The Fire That Consumes Us All
by Ichiko Wind Gryphon
Summary: Sequel to Dangerous Secrets. Morrible has been killing hundreds of Animals, but now she has gone too far. In her hope of crushing the Resistance, she has wrought a fury like no other. And there will be no mercy. Fiyeraba, Gloq, and Dorothy/Hunk
1. A Lot Happens in Five Years

**Hel-lo readers! And now, I proudly present the first chapter of the sequel to DANGEROUS SECRETS! Yay!**

**Wow, this took forever to write. I'm so bad with writing the beginnings of a story. But . . . I think this turned out all right. And it's _en media res,_ which is Latin for "in the middle of things," I think . . . or is it Italian . . . ?**

**Well, anyway, if you haven't read Dangerous Secrets, you're going to be a little lost, but I'll give you the down-low on what has happened so far (shame on you for not reading Dangerous Secrets in the first place):**

**The story is mainly from Dorothy's perspective, and basically she narrates the story as she tells about her adventure in Oz. She gives us a brief summary of how she ended up in Oz with the whole twister incident, and how she killed the Wicked Witch of the East, and how she got the ruby slippers. She then stays at Boq's house for the night before she begins her journey to the Emerald City. When she meets the Scarecrow, the Scarecrow has lost all of his memory and wants to go to the Wizard to get it back. Then they meet Boq, who is now the Tin Man, and he explains how, when Dorothy left to go on her journey, the Witch of the West cursed him and lost his heart, and now he's made of tin. He joins them to get his heart back. Then they meet the Lion, who, obviously, has no courage (I did not explain why he has no courage; I figured he was too young to remember the Lion cub incident when Elphaba and Fiyero were at Shiz).**

**And they reach the Emerald City, where the Wizrd sends them on a quest to go kill the WWotW, and they do so (the incident is similar to the 1939 movie, minus the guards). They kill her with a bucket of water (duh) and then they return to the Emerald City, and the Wizard grants their wishes. HOWEVER, the Wizard knew all along that the Scarecrow was really Fiyero, and wanted to punish him (because he survived being tortured) by making him kill his love, Elphaba (the Wizard is an evil, twisted bastard) So when the Scarecrow finds out the truth, he freaks out and forces the Wizard to leave Oz and never return. Dorothy and company overhear him, and they now know the truth, as well (that Elphaba wasn't really evil, the Wizard's a fraud, etc.) **

**During this time, Glinda throws Madame Morrible in jail.**

**So the Wizard leaves in his hot air balloon, but since Dorothy knew the Wizard would kill her once inside the balloon, she manages to evade getting into the balloon, and Glinda (using a spell in the Grimmerie) sends Dorothy home.**

**Before she does, Scarecrow (now known as Fiyero) takes her off to the side and tells her he's leaving for good (aka going to commit suicide) Dorothy tries to talk him out of it, but his mind is set. He leaves without saying good-bye to the others.**

**When Dorothy leaves, the Tin Man (Aka Boq) is suspicious about Scarecrow's (Fiyero's) sudden disappearance, and he, along with Lion and Glinda, sees a burning crucifix. They discover that the Scarecrow is dead, and they mourn his death. Glinda never knows the Scarecrow's or the Tin Man's real identity, but Tin Man, Dorothy, Lion, and Scarecrow know what each other's real names are.**

**Dorothy returns home in one piece** **and realizes that Elphaba and Fiyero are still alive. She only shares her story with Hunk, her closest friend.**

**And that's that! Whew! Let the tale be told!!**

**P.S.: Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

**WARNING: THIS STORY CONTAINS VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE, AND GRAPHIC DETAILS. THIS IS A HIGH-T STORY. You have been warned.**

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How could everything go so wrong so fast?!

Glinda's mind screamed. _How could everything be doing so well, then THIS had to happen!_

She was running as fast as she possibly could down one of the Palace's many stone corridors, with the only two guards who were still loyal to her; the Tin Man and the Lion, now named Osio. The raced in front of her, desperately seeking a way out to save her. Even through this hellish nightmare, Glinda still felt extremely proud of their loyalty when everyone else had turned against her.

"This way!" Tin Man said suddenly, taking a sharp right, and skidding across the marble floor with his tin heels screeching against the stone. Glinda grimaced, but followed without hesitation. The Lion stayed right by her side every step.

Suddenly, Tin Man stopped dead in his tracks. Glinda slammed right into him, and fell clumsily to the floor. Tin Man helped her up hastily, then took off in the opposite direction. And as Glinda was dragged by Tin Man, she looked over her shoulder, and saw why he had stopped so suddenly.

The hall in front of them was blocked by at least ten Gale Force officers. And now they were in hot pursuit, right behind them, and slowly and surely gaining on them.

Osio, however, couldn't stop so quickly. He skidded down the hall, right in front of the Gale Force. They quickly threw a net over him and overpowered him in an instant. Soon, they had him captured and bagged like some poor helpless rabbit. He roared and writhed with anger and desperation, twisting and lurching inside the net. His mighty bellows were also full of pain. And Glinda suddenly knew why: _The net was electrocuting him!!_

"Osio!" she cried. She wanted to help him, to free him from the horrible net, but Tin Man grabbed her wrist and ushered her down the hall.

"We have to help him!" she begged.

"We can't! They'll get you as well!" Tin Man said.

Glinda continued to run for dear life, for fear of what they would do to _her_ if they captured her. Another fork appeared in front of them. Tin Man took a quick glance down the left-side corridor, but froze in horror as he glanced down the right.

"Oh, _shit_," he whispered.

Charging down the corridor was another group of Gale Force soldiers. Glinda knew that they couldn't outrun them any longer. She was breathing heavily, and her legs were screamin in agony. She couldn't keep up this game of cat and mouse.

"Lady Glinda, run!" Tin Man said, pulling his ax out of its holster that was strapped over his shoulder. "I'll hold them off as long as I can!"

"No!" she protested. "They'll-"

"GO! NOW!" It was a command, not a request. Without a moment's pause, he charged at the incoming soldiers, ax raised.

With nothing else left to do, she continued her flight throughout the palace. She could still here Tin Man yelling fiercely at the attacking soldiers, metal clashing on metal, then her blood ran cold as everything suddenly went deathy silent. Spurred by fear, she desperately continued her search for a safe place to hide and get help.

There! Her private study! Maybe she could hide in there and put up a protective enough magical barrer to hold the guards off long enough to get help!

She burst through the door, and slammed it shut behind her. And gasped.

All of her spell books were gone! Every bookshelf was bare. Not a scrap of paper was left.

She had no chance of making an effective barrier without her spell books.

"SHIT!" Glinda swore loudly. "Shit, shit, shit, FUCK!!" Never in her life did she think she was quite capable of swearing so profusely, but then again, she had never been so scared in her life. Everyone was out to get her, and she was just standing there, completely helpless.

She fortunately remembered a weak spell that could protect her for a moment, if that. Desperate, exhausted, and out of options, she performed the spell around her office in a minute.

Glinda then raced around in her private room, desperately seeking a way out. But she knew there was no escaping this one. She was trapped.

Any minute now, the guards would break down her pathetically weak magical barrier and arrest her. They have already captured Tin Man and the Lion. It would be very soon before they got their hands on her.

She screamed in frustration. There was nothing she could do! All of her personal body guards were either captured or killed, and there was no one to help her!

Or maybe, there was.

It was a desperate and nearly hopeless chance, but at this point, it was her only option.

"Zephyr!" she called out.

Immediately, a large Hawk appeared at the window. Zephyr was her most trusted messenger Bird, and now Glinda's only chance.

Quickly, Glinda took a piece of parchment and scribbled a letter as fast as she could. She then tied it to Zephyr's leg.

"Lady Glinda, what are you doing?" Zephyr asked calmly, despite the chaotic situation.

"You need to deliver a letter to someone! She's the only one who can help us!"

Zephyr looked at her with his golden eyes. "You don't mean-"

"Yes, Zephyr!" Glinda said quickly. "Now go before the guards come!"

Without further hesitation, he flew hastily out the window and disappeared into the sky.

No sooner had Zephyr flown out the window, the guards burst through the doors, sending splinters flying. Glinda used what little magic she had to fight them off, but she might have just stood there for all it did. The guards overpowered her immediately, and dragged her out of her room, kicking and screaming.

She was then brought into the main hall of the Central Palace, where she had been ruling, until very recently. And to her disgust, she saw the woman responsible for her downfall. Glinda felt a burning rage well up inside of her.

It was Madame Morrible

"My dear, how do you think you will fare in captivity?" Morrible asked with a cruel smile. What mockery. She was using her own words against her.

Glinda spat in her face, and a guard cuffed her. Glinda let out a small cry of pain, and she saw Morrible wipe off the spit with a smile.

"Ah, my dear, I thought you would have learned better manners than that!" she said coldly. "You're just like those pathetic Animals, and you will be treated as such! Take her down to Southstair!" she said to the guards.

The guards dragged her away, but Glinda struggled as hard as she could against them. She wouldn't go down without a fight.

"You won't get away with this, Morrible!" Glinda shrieked.

Morrible laughed coldly. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong. I already have! I am now ruler of Oz! And no one can stop me!"

Glinda was then shoved down a stone corridor which lead down to the dark, foreboding abyss that was Southstair. Glinda prayed with all her might that her last attempt to seek help would be successful.

All of Oz depended on it.

It had been almost five years since my little adventure in Oz. And not a day goes by that I don't think about it.

And a lot had happened in that time. A drought struck the farm yet again, and we were forced to sell the farm for what little money it was worth and move into the city. Hickory and Zeke each went their separate ways, but Hunk stuck with us. He lost every one in his family in the drought, his parents, his sister, his cousins, everyone and everything. We were all that was left for him. Frankly, I already considered him as an older brother or something even more.

My aunt and uncle agreed without hesitation that he could stay with us if he wanted to. He bought an apartment right next to ours and made frequent visits and even helped us pay for our rent. He and I grew very close in those few years.

A few months after we moved into the city, I started college. The apartment was fairly close to the campus, so I didn't need to spend any much-needed money on transportation, dorms, or meal plans. I was going to major in English and become a writer or a teacher. Hell, I might end up teaching geography and spend my life devoted to discoverng the exact location of Oz.

Not a year later after moving into the city, both my aunt and uncle were diagnosed with terminal cancer.

They died a few months later, within days of each other.

Hunk decided to sell his apartment so he could stay with me and help pay for rent. Honestly, I agreed because I needed the company. Hunk was my best and only friend. Well, at least here in the U.S.

And it was on any normal day that I came back from another long, tedious day at college, flopped on a chair, and started to glaze through the long boring book I was assigned to read and anotate. I swear, sometimes I just wated to shoot myself. Well, at least Hunk would be home soon.

About an hour or so later, Hunk came into the apartment, and I leapt off the chair and gave him a quick hug.

"Hey, Hunk. Good to see you," I said happily while trying to stifle a yawn. God I hate it when that happens.

He laughed. "Good to see you, too!" He gave me a quick kiss on the top of my head. "Another long day at college?"

I laughed. "You have no idea."

He dropped his bag on the couch and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. "Well, let's get some dinner cooking, shall we?"

Making meals together was always fun. We had no idea what the hell we were doing, and most of the time we slopped together some bullshit recipe that tasted like crap, but preparing it was a riot, and we'd end up enjoying the meal, anyhow, however obscure the ingredients were.

But today, Hunk had something special planned. He had gone out and bought two fine cuts of beef, and actually bought a book on how to properly prepare steak. I couldn't help but laugh.

"First you're a farmer, then you're a saleman, and now you're a cook!" I laughed as I pulled out some spices to season the steak with.

He gave me a smile. "Today's a special day, so I thought I'd do something special!"

"What's the occassion?"

He nearly dropped the bottle of steak sauce he was holding.

"Are you serious? Today's your twenty-first birthday!"

Oh, shit! I was so caught up with everything else that I completely forgot my own birthday! How pathetic is that?!

When he saw my shocked expression, he laughed and gave me a hug. "Well, here's to you!" he said. "Now, let's cook some steaks!"

"You're gonna have to teach me," I said playfully. "The only thing I've ever cooked for you is macaroni and cheese!"

We both laughed. He then took me into the kitchen where the two steaks were already waiting in a large bowl.

"Now, we first have to marinate it," Hunk said, opening a bottle of steak sauce. "And we also put in some spices, and mix it up nice and good."

"What are we gonna add to it?"

"Oh, this and that, pretty much the whole damn spice rack!" He started to pour the sauce, and I grabbed some pepper and started to shake it on.

"This is probably going to taste like crap," I said. "We have no idea what the hell we're doing."

"Oh, that's not true!" Hunk said defensively. "I spent a whole twenty minutes reading that book!"

"So what did you learn?" I asked, looking him right in the eye. I took a small step closer to him. I could smell his sweet cologne.

"A lot," he said simply. He leaned closer to me. Our lips were inches apart, and I slowly wrapped my arms around his neck. Closer, and -

_RING!_

Son of a bitch. Talk about shitty timing.

"Let it ring," Hunk said, pulling closer.

I pushed away with an apologetic look and answered the phone. I could tell that Hunk was as pissed off at the phone call as I was, but I knew we needed to answer this call.

"Hello?" I said into the reciever.

"Miss Gale? This is the landlord."

Oh shit . . .

"Yes?"

"It's about your rent. You're behind again," he said, not unkindly, but rather, more apologetcally. The landlord was a nice guy, he really was. He was just really . . . organized and anal about payments.

"Yes, I know sir, and I'm getting my paycheck this Friday. Hunk, too. As soon as we get those, we'll send you the rent right away." I said in a rushed voice.

I heard a sigh on the other end of the line. "Please do so. I can't afford you to have late payments. If you're late again . . . I'm sorry, but I'll have no choice but to throw you out. And I really don't want to do that."

"I know," I said quietly.

"I'll talk to you soon. And Dorothy?"

"Yes?"

"Happy birthday." And he hung up.

I slowly put the phone back. Hunk came up from behind me and hugged me around the shoulders.

"Landlord?"

I nodded.

He rubbed my shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We'll get it in. We're doing alright."

"No we're not, Hunk!" I said, starting to get angry. "We're always late for our payments! We barely even make the minimum! I'm working my ass off for shitty litttle jobs and you're doing no better! And let's not forget that we live in a shitty little apartment in the middle of a shitty city! And it's because of this fucking city that Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are dead!" Tears were stinging my eyes, but I held them back. Damn it, how could he not see how bad things really were?!

Hunk was hurt by my angry remark. He slumped his shoulders and spread out his hands. "I miss them, too."

"What?" I said, still angry. What the hell was he talking about?

"Don't think you were the only one that's upset that Emily and Henry are dead. They were like family to me. And I loved them, I really did. Times have been hard, I know, but we'll make it. Try to look on the bright side of life. We've got a decent place to stay, food on the table, but most of all, we have each other. Some people don't have that."

I nodded and lowered my head. "I know. I'm sorry."

"It's ok," he said gently, giving me a comforting hug. "Go ahead and get a shower. I'll get dinner cooking."

I slowly made my way to my own room and then to the shower. As the cool refreshing water splashed on my ace, I was instantly reminded of the day years ago that I sat on the swingset in the rain, finally realizing that Fiyero were alive. Questions popped into my head. How was everything back in Oz? Was Glinda as good of a leader as I hoped she was capable of being? What were Elphaba and Fiyero doing now? Hiding? And what about the Lion and Boq?

I groaned. This sucked. I will never be able to know! It was a painful annoyance, one that has gotten me into a lot of trouble before. I was always critisized for having my head in the clouds and having and over-active imagination. But it was something I could never forget, and honestly, I don't want to forget.

I stepped out of the shower a few minutes later, furiously rubbing my hair with a towel. I slipped on my regular attire; a pair of faded jeans and a white tee-shirt with a flower design on the side. As I slipped on a pair of silver hoop earrings, my eye caught a picture that was hidden beneath numerous others, one that I had personally drawn. I knew which picture it was, and I swiped away the other pictures on top of it to look at it.

I drew this picture right after I returned home, five years ago. It was a picture of Fiyero, Boq, and Lion, all standing side-by side. I was a pretty good artist, but I felt like I could never capture the true genuine emotion and feel for each of them. Fiyero had a huge lopsided grin, one hand holdng his hat on his head, the other hand in his pocket. Boq was loking off into the distance, his ax slung over his shoulders, standing tall and firm, a set and determined expression carved into his tin features. Lion was glancing cautiously over his shoulder, looking a little afraid but had the pose of someone courageous and unafraid.

I sighed. I missed them so much. I clipped the hand-drawn picture to the mirror and just stared at it for a while. Will I ever know how everyone's doing, and what's happening.

_Probably not ever,_ a voice in my head said. _It's been five years. Don't you think it's time to let them go?_

_I can't let them go, and I don't want to._

_You're only going to give yourself a heartache. Let's face it; it's been nothing but trouble for you. You've become alienated and distant. People don't even know you anymore. You're going to eventually have to learn how to let things go. Just do it for yourself._

I sat in silence, trying to determine if I should listen to the voice of reason. I didn't want to forget, but every time I thought about them, it hurt. I sighed to myself.

Maybe it was time to move on.

I ripped the picture of my Ozian friends into shreds and tossed it into the trash can. And with that picture went a little piece of my heart. But I knew it was all going to be for the better.

I hoped.

* * *

**Oh, forgot about discalimers. Ahem. Don't own Wicked, never will, never have. All credit belongs to L.F. Baum, Gregory Maguire, and Stephen Schwartz. There are numerous characters that I myself made up, and if you want to suggest a character, go right ahead.**


	2. Returning to Oz

No one has ever crossed the desert before.

Except for the false wizard and the girl, Dorothy.

But that was besides the point. It was an impossible mission to deliver a futile letter across an impassible obstacle to reach someone that he didn't know the location of, and he had no idea how the hell he was supposed to bring her back.

It was very possible that by the time Zephyr had reached the girl, Glinda and the others would be dead.

This was without a doubt the most daring and dangerous journeys he'd ever partaken in.

He smiled. He liked a good, hearty challenge.

He flapped his enormous wings harder, and started to ride the thermals to the edge of the desert.

_Here goes nothing,_ he thought, then plummeted into the unforeseeable dangers that lurked in the desert beyond.

* * *

The sweet aroma of freshly cooked food dragged me out of my room and into the tiny apartment kitchen, where Hunk was waiting, table set and food ready, and of course still wearing his "Kiss the Cook" apron. I smiled and planted a wet kiss on his cheek.

"Please take a seat, _mademoiselle_," he said in a very authentic French accent. "We have a very fine wine, très magnifique!"

I jumped about a foot in the air and stared at him. "What did you say?" I said hoarsely.

Hunk looked confused. "I just said we have a nice wine. Uh, 'tres magnifique' means 'very magnificent' in French, you know."

"Yeah, I know," I said a little too sharply. But similar words have been spoken before.

_C'est magnifique! Your fashion is the rage of the century, no, mademoiselle?_

I clearly remembered that night, my first night out and alone in the woods with Boq . . . and Fiyero. Even in an unknown and alien world, they made me feel at home, and so safe, and I remembered falling in love with Fiyero's brilliant blue eyes, his kind smile, and his warm and comforting arms.

_Stop it, Dorothy! You're just opening up old wounds again!_

"Dorothy? Are you ok?"

"What?!" I said, startled. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine . . . just had a really weird idea pop into my head."

"Dorothy . . ." he said slowly, raising an eyebrow.

I banged my elbows on the table and slumped my head in my hands. "Damn it . . " I muttered to myself. "And I just promised to myself that I would forget them and move on!! Damn!"

Hunk sat down next to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "Is this about . . . your old friends?"

I nodded slowly.

He sighed. "You said you want to forget them?"

"It's been five years! I'll never know what's going on, how they're doing, and everything! It sucks! Every time I remember them, it hurts! I don't want to forget them, but I'm only causing myself more grief if I keep them in mind! I have to learn to let them go!"

hunk was silent for a moment. "That's probably the most mature- and immature- thing I've ever heard," he finally said.

"What are you talking about?"

"You want to stop causing harm to yourself-fair enough, seems logical and obvious, but it can't be all bad if you can still remember them after all this time. There must have been some good times in there, as well. Now, why do you want to throw all that away because of a few bad memories? I don't think it's worth it to forget such great friends."

"But . . . I can't take it. It hurts."

"Hey, what am I here for, then?" he said with a kind smile. "I'm always here to talk to, no matter how crazy things get. You know that, right?"

I didn't say anything. I knew he meant well, but I was angry at him that he couldn't understand that I had to do this.

_But what if he's right?_

"I . . . I don't know anymore," I said, frustrated. "I need to think about it."

Hunk nodded. "Well, let's forget about it for the moment. Tonight, we feast!"

I was surprised how quickly Hunk was able to turn a gloomy moment into one of celebration and excitement, but he managed to get me laughing and joking in no time flat. I really hate him for that, but in the end, I'm always glad he does it.

Hunk then pulled out the steaks, perfectly cooked and absolutely delicious. The smell was intoxicating and every bite was like I was eating a small bit of heaven. I closed my eyes and savored every bite, chewing slowly and rolling it over in my tongue several times before swallowing.

Hunk smiled. "Like it?"

"Oh, sweet Jesus, it's delicious," I said. "How the heck did you get them to be so good?"

"Magic," he said nonchalantly with his usual jokster grin.

I stared at him.

"Oh, um . . . I just followed the instructions in the book," he said quickly. "It was very thorough and precise. I'm glad you like it. You deserve it."

I gave him a small smile. "Thanks. I have no idea what I would have done without you."

"Hey, no problem," he said.

We continued to eat and talk, just like always, for about an hour, slowly cutting away at our meals and savoring everything. Finally, with our plates empty and our stomachs full, Hunk took away the dishes, but had me stay at the table for a moment longer. For the first time, he looked anxious and jittery, a strange mix of excitement and nervousness.

"Hunk, what's wrong?" I asked.

He sat down across from me and took my hands into his.

"Dorothy," he said, a slight waver in his voice. "We've known each other for years and years now, and we've become great friends, but I want something more. I cannot begin to tell you how much I love and admire you. You are my world to me, and I would have nothing without you. Dorothy?"

"Yes?" I asked, getting a little nervous myself.

"I want-"

**_CRASH!!_**

An enormous bird bursted through the window and crash-landed onto the table, sending shards of glass and feathers flying. Hunk and I screamed and jumped away from the table, gaping at the bird. It looked like it was some sort of hawk.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!!" Hunk screamed. "What the hell?!"

The hawk then wobbled upright on its feet, its wings limp and sprawled across the table. It was gasping for breath, beak open, tongue sticking out, and stared at me with exhausted golden eyes.

"Dorothy," it wheezed. "Oz is in trouble."

Then the hawk, or rather, Hawk, passed out.

* * *

None of us moved. We just stared at the Hawk, our minds barely registering what we just witnessed.

"Did-did that bird just . . . _talk_?!" Hunk stuttered, gaping at the Hawk.

I nodded.

"Birds can't talk!!" Hunk practically screeched.

"In Oz, they can," I said, then I remembered what it said. "The Hawk was looking for me! It said that Oz was in trouble!"

Oh, God. Now I know where the phrase "no news is good news" comes from.

"Oh, no, what do you think is wrong?" I asked, mostly to myself.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, are you saying this bird is from Oz?" Hunk asked, still in shock. "How'd it get _here_?!"

"It obviously must've flown. The only people to have ever came into or left Oz have come by air," I said. "I came by the tornado, and the Wizard-impersonator came by hot-air balloon. So it seems logical that the best way to travel out of the country is by air."

Hunk was still staring at the bird.

"HUNK!" I yelled. He jumped and looked at me. "We need to wake him-or her- up and find out what's going on!"

"What do you want me to do? I'm not a vet!"

I threw my hands up in the air. "I don't know! Throw some water on it! Get some smelling salt! Do something!" I grabbed a glass and filled it with water. I was about to splash some of it on the Hawk when it opened a single gold eye.

"Get me wet and you're gonna have hell to pay," it muttered.

I nearly dropped the glass, but I set it down.

"Why are you here?" Hunk asked.

The Hawk stood up and glared at him. "Nice to meet you, too," he grumbled. "I'm just fine, thanks for asking. And stop gawking at me like I'm some sort of freak."

"Please, go easy on him," I said. "He's never seen a talking Hawk before."

The Hawk looked perplexed. "You don't have any Hawks here?"

I shook my head. "Just animals. No Animals."

The Hawk looked stunned.

"What the hell are you talking about?!" Hunk said. "You said we don't have any animals, but we have animals! What the hell is that supposed to mean?!"

"No, in Oz, Animals can talk and can think, just like people, but animals can't." I explained quickly.

"I still don't understand."

"I'll explain later," I said impatiently. I turned to the Hawk. "What's going on? Why did you come here?"

The Hawk sighed. "Oz is in bad shape. I don't know all the details, but Glinda, Tin Man, and Osio have been captured and are being held prisoner."

"Osio?" I asked. "Who's he?"

"The Lion," the Hawk said. "He took a proper name shortly after you left."

I nodded. "But why has Glinda been captured? I thought she was the ruler now."

"There have been some rebels, ones still loyal to that Morrible hag. Now she's broken out of Southstair and threw Glinda and her followers in prison, and now _she's_ the ruler!" The Hawk sounded absolutely disgusted, and hissed when it said Morrible's name. "Glinda, however, was able to send you a note."

It extended its leg, where a small piece of paper was tied to it, and I took it. As I unfolded the tiny piece of paper, my stomach dropped to my feet when I saw what was written.

_Dorothy! I'm in desperate need of your help! By the time you recieve this message, I will be in prison, most likely in Southstair. On the outskirts of the Vinkus is an Animal encampment. They will help you. The spell writen below will instantly transport you and anything you hold to the encampment. Please hurry!_

The note was hastily scribbled, and I didn't need to see the signature to know it was Glinda's writing. I looked up at Hunk.

"We need to return to Oz and save Glinda and the others!" I said.

Hunk stared at me like I was crazy. "Are you insane?! In case you haven't noticed, we can't exactly get a plane to fly us to a place no one's ever heard of!"

"There's a spell that can get us there!" I said, showing him the note.

Hunk raised an eyebrow. "And now you're telling me you can do magic?"

I felt the bottom of my stomach drop out. Shit. I wasn't a witch. I couldn't perform any spells. What the hell was Glinda thinking?

"Perhaps I can help," the Hawk said calmly. "I can read the spell for you, and all you have to do is repeat precisely what I say. Everyone can do a little bit of magic, even here, a place without Animals," it shuddered when it said that, as if it still couldn't belive Animals didn't exist where we lived.

I nodded. "Oh, one other thing," I said slowly. "Have you heard anything about . . . the Scarecrow?" My voice was shaking when I said the sentence, and my hands also shook and sweated.

The Hawk looked at me rather confused. "He's dead. I thought you knew that. Tin Man said the Scarecrow told you before he left."

I wasn't sure what to think about that. Could Fiyero really be alive and in hiding? Where would he have gone? Hundreds of questions popped into my head, but I had to push those to the back of my mind and focus on the issue at hand.

"So," I said to the Hawk. "Let's hear the spell."

"Wait," Hunk said, then ran out of the kitchen and came back a moment later, holding a handgun and a switchblade. I was shocked.

"Hunk," I said slowly. "How long have you had those?"

He hesitated for only a second. "They were my father's. I was able to get these when he died."

There was a long and uncomfortable silence. Hunk never spoke about his parents before. He cleared his throat and handed me the switchblade. It was a good nine inches long.

"I don't think you know how to handle a gun," he said. "I'm not letting you go empty-handed into some foreign country to fight this Morrible person. I'm going to make sure you're going to be prepared"

"Actually," I said a little bashfully. "I have shot a gun before."

"You have?"

"Yeah. It was Scarecrow's."

There was yet again another long and uncomfortable silence, and the tension in the air was at breaking point. Even the Hawk sensed the tension. And he was the one who, thankfully, broke the silence.

"I'll repeat the spell," he said. I jumped slightly. "Now, listen carefully. I don't want to spend too much time with this. Time is of the essence."

I slipped the knife into my back pocket, Hunk put the gun in his, and we listened diligently to the strange language the Hawk spoke.

"Askamen tuma lame tante kutanta luria." the Hawk said.

"Askamen tooma lamy tante katana lura," I said.

"No, it's 'askamen TUMA lame KUtanta luRIA,'" the Hawk said.

"Oh, ok, um, askamen tuma lame kutanta luria!" I repeated.

"Good, now again, but really emphasize and announciate each word carefully." the Hawk said, then climbed on my arm. "And grab your friend, if he's coming."

I grabbed Hunk's hand then concentrated on pronouncing the words exactly as the Hawk had told me. I inhaled deeply. Hunk squeezed my hand in reassurance. With a small nod, I repeated the spell.

"Askamen tuma lame tante kutanta luria!"

I felt the floor drop below my feet and I felt myself start to fall. Everything became pitch black, and the world around me started to spin. I closed my eyes and the wind rushed past my ears, deafening me. I held on as tight as I could to Hunk's hand, and his grasp was threatening to tear my arm off, but still I clung to him for dear life. The Hawk also clung to my arm like a clamp, and somehow its talons managed to not shred my arm to pieces. All of the sudden, my body collided against something semi-soft, and I was left gasping for air. I slowly opened one eye, and saw a bright blue sky scattered with small wispy clouds. I was laying on my back on a field of grass. I rolled over to see Hunk lying next to me, groaning, apparently got the wind knocked out of him. The Hawk seemed fine.

The Hawk looked around, apparently uneasy, hopping around and chirping anxiously. "Something's wrong." he said. "Something is very very wrong. Where are all the Animals?"

I looked around as well. There were a few scattered trees, and not an Animal in sight.

"Did we land in the wrong spot? Perhaps the spell went wrong?" I asked, getting a little uneasy myself.

"No, we're in the right place," the Hawk reassured. "This is it."

But there was nothing except an endless green field, surrounded by a thick wood.

Suddenly, I heard something move in the nearby woods. We all stared in that direction, then exchanged worried glanced.

"Hurontu, is that you?" the Hawk said cautiously.

Silence. Nothing moved, not even the wind stirred a single leaf in the trees.

Suddenly, everything burst into an explosion of noise, movement, and chaos as several dozen soldiers attacked us. Before I could even react, they had us pinned on the ground, and tied up like cattle at rodeos. I kicked and struggled as hard as I could, but it only amused our attackers. I was horrified as I saw two of the soldiers take the Hawk, and slit its throat with a small blade. Right in front of my eyes. Just like that. Butchered.

One of the soldiers approached Hunk and I, and we were forced to sit on our knees as he spoke to us.

"So, allies with the Animals as well, huh?" he said. He was a large man, tall and tan, with broad shoulders and trimmed black hair and a fine moustache and goatee. His uniform was clean and crisp, green with yellow trim, and was heavily decorated with medals, badges, and braids. He was obviously the leader of this squadron.

Hunk glared at him fiercely. "Let us go. We've done nothing wrong!"

"Oh, but that's where you're wrong," he said coyly. "Anyone associated with Animals are subject to arrest. And you are no acception." He then gagged Hunk with a piece of cloth, then looked at me with hungry eyes. "Oh, you're a fine one!" he said, trailing one finger down the side of my face. I shuddered with disgust.

"Get your fucking hands off, you creep!" I shrieked.

He laughed. "Fiesty. That's how I like my girls. Consider yourself lucky. I may just make you my personal maiden instead of throwing you in prison." Hunk looked absolutely furious. He struggled against the guards, but the guards held him firm.

"I'd rather rot in hell than be with you, you sick bastard!" I yelled.

"So be it," he said nonchalantly. "Take them to the nearest holding area, then we'll transport them to the nearest prison." He then studied me for a moment longer. His eyes suddenly grew very large. "Oh, heaven of the Unnamed God," he whispered. "You're Dorothy! _The_ Dorothy!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said quickly. But the guard wasn't paying attention any longer.

"This is much too important for just a holding facility! We're going to take her stright to Her Magesty, Queen Morrible herself!"

With much shoving, shouting, and many threats with their guns, knives, and swords, they forced us to march to the Emerald City. I took one last look at the poor Hawk, its bloody and mangled body sprawled on the grass, now red with its blood.

A single tear fell from my eye. Unless we were saved by some sort of miracle, we were going to meet the same fate.


	3. Losing Hope

**What the hell, guys?! Two chapters, and only two reviews?! I'm very disappointed in you all. **

**But, here's the next chapter. Please, tell me what you think about this story. If no one's interested in this, then I'll stop posting, BUT I'LL ONLY KNOW THAT IF YOU GUYS SUBMIT SOME REVIEWS!!**

* * *

I lost all track of time as the soldiers forced us to march for miles on end. We passed several small, poor villages. The towns were in a desperate shape; all of the houses were in shambles, and the people themselves seemed broken and lost, their eyes dead and glazed over. They stared at us with blank expressions, emotionless, and continuing with the daily tasks in a robotic way, devoid of life and spirit. It was by far the most depressing thing I've seen.

What in God's name had Morrible done to these people?!

The guards stopped us in the middle of a fairly large- but still incredibly poor and depressing- town. The people gathered around us silently, lurching and moving in an almost zombie-like fashion, and glared at us with dead, weary eyes. They untied Hunk's gag, but tied our hands and feet together a little tighter. I winced when they tightened the knots on my wrists. I could feel the blood getting cut off to my fingers. My hands were going numb already.

"These people have been identified as enemies of the great and powerful Queen!" the leader said, pointing at us with his sword in one hand. "Citizens, what do we do with thieves, traitors, conspirators, and criminals?!"

"Kill them," they all said simultaneously in a flat voice. The way they said that sent chills down my spine.

"What is your duty as citizens of the Queen when faced with these dogs?!"

"Shun them. Kill them. Torture them and seek out their allies," they said again in the same flat monotonous voice.

"Dear God, they've all been brainwashed," Hunk whispered to me.

I couldn't agree more. Now that I looked at them more closely, they all looked the same. They all wore the same ragged and dirty clothes, all the same color. No one in the crowd stood out in any way whatsoever. This town was not made up of many independent individuals, but one spiritless monotony.

The leader of the guards grabbed Hunk by the throat and forced him to his knees. I screamed in terror, and attempted to run to his side, bt two other guards held me back. The leader then drew his sword and pressed it against Hunk's throat.

"Where ar the other Animals?!" the leader demanded.

"I don't know!" Hunk said truthfully.

"Liar!" The guard brutally kicked Hunk in the stomach.

"STOP!!" I screamed, but no one listened to me.

"Where are the other Animals?!" the guard demanded again.

"I don't know!!" Hunk yelled. "I don't know anything! That bird just showed up and brought us here! I don't know, dammit!!"

"Useless slime!" the leader said, and raised his sword high into the air.

"STOP!!" I screamed again at the top of my lungs, tears of fear running down my cheeks. The leader looked at me. "Please, don't hurt him! He doesn't know anything! He's an innocent! Please, spare him! Don't hurt him, please!"

The leader looked at me for a long time in silence. After an unbearably long time, he jerked Hunk back up on his feet and shoved him next to me. I leaned on his shoulder and he placed his chin on the top of my head. But our reunion was brief. The guards then jabbed us with their spears, urging us to continue our trek across the country. The leader was once again talking to the crowd of brainwashed citzens, but I didn't listen to him. I was too busy crying into Hunk's shoulder. He leaned his head on mine, the only comfort he could give me with his hands and feet tied.

We pushed on, across long stretches of plains and then across a mountain range. The mountain range was all but impassible; it took us a good four hours to get through one of the passes. It was cold and the wind was as strong as a tornado's. The path was just wide enough to let us pass through single-file, and the path dropped off to a dangerous cliff. At the bottom were jagged rocks a good hundred feet down. The rocks were coated with a thin layer of ice, and a single unsure foot would send you tumbling down the steep cliffs that lined the trail. I slipped once, and sent several rocks crumbling over the edge. I heard them bounce off the face of the cliff, but never heard them reach the bottom.

"Keep moving!"

The guards did not help us at all. We were left to climb the steep treacherous trail with our hands tied together, and our legs were tied as well. There was enough rope in between our legs to allow for a small step. So we inched our way up the mountain with spears poking at our backs and rocks waiting below. Within the first hour, I was numb with cold and shivering violently. Another hour later I collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted. I couldn't move if I tried. My limbs felt as heavy as lead weights, and I curled into the fetal position, desperately trying to warm myself. The guards kicked me, trying to get me to keep moving, but I refused. I just wanted to lie there. We were going to die anyway, so why not now?

"Get her friend! Make him carry her!" the leader said.

Hunk was shoved next to me. He held my hand, and gently lifted me to my feet, but my legs collapsed underneath me. Hunk slung my tied arms around his head, and he half-carried, half-dragged me up the mountain, all the while murmuring words of encouragement.

"Come on, you gotta keep moving."

"I wanna die."

"Don't say that. I'm here, I'm here, we have to keep going. You're friends are depending on you."

"I can't."

"Yes you can. You can do this. You're strong. Keep going. I know you can do it."

We kept talking back and forth like this for quite a while, and slowly, we climbed up the mountain, and the trail began to gradually decline. We passed the peak of the mountain trail, and now we were heading down. But going downhill had its dangers as well.

The ice seemed thicker here, and I was constantly tripping and falling, sometimes dragging Hunk down with me. But he was always the one that pulled me to my feet, and encouraging me to push on. My eyes grew heavy from fatigue and cold. I had no idea how Hunk was managing to carry himself as well as me. He looked exhausted, as well, and he was panting heavily, his breath forming large clouds of steam around his head. But his eyes burned with a determined fire that not even the bitter cold could smother.

Finally, the mountains became little more than rocky hills and they began to flatten. I silently cried with relief, but our captors refused to let us rest. We pushed on.

My feet dragged along the ground, and every step forward was an excruciating effort. My muscles screamed in protest, and my lungs burned with oxygen deprivation from the altitude difference. I felt tears stream down my face. I was going to die. I was going to die.

In the distance, I saw a crow sitting on the top of a towerng evergreen that was slowly rotting away into nothingness. The crow, I knew, was a harbinger of death.

As I looked at the bird's expressionless black eyes, I knew for sure that all of my efforts would mean nothing, and I would die at Morrible's hands. Glinda's attempt to get help was futile and fruitless, a complete failure.

I couldn't help but feel responsible for all this. Thanks to me, Hunk, Glinda, Boq, and the Lion were going to die. Butchered. Just like the Hawk.

As the crow sprang off the tree and took to flight, I couldn't help but pray that my iminent death will be swift and painless.

* * *

Hurontu, as his friends called him, was a mighty Black Bear, a fighter in his prime, but of course not nearly as much as a fighter as the King of the Forest, Osio himself. Unfortunaltely, a few weeks ago, O sio was called to the Emerald City to help Glinda. Being the noble and loyal Lion he was, Osio left without hesitation, leaving him in charge.

And now, his King had been taken prisoner. All of Osio's subjects went into a state of hysteria, and he was barely able to keep the Animals in line, much less keep them from going into an uncontrollable state of panic.

But if rumors rang true, help was on the way.

Hurontu, for the first time in a long time, felt a glimmer of hope. After years of oppression, after countless battles and slaughters where he saw his own friends and family murdered right before his eyes, there was hope for him and all the Animals.

He kept a low profile, keeping to the woods as much as possible, still wary of Morrible's guards. He could take on three at most without a problem, but the guards always traveled in a group of at least seven. He had to be careful. If they captured him, he would be tortured and killed. Just like his wife and cubs.

He could smell Zephyr's scent, and also several humans. Guards, or allies? Only one way to find out.

He ran out into the field, following his nose, but soon, he didn't need to anymore. In the middle of the field, he saw quite clearly, a pile of brown and black feathers, twitching slightly in the wind. Hurontu's heart plummeted to his feet as he galloped to the pile of feathers.

"Oh, no," he muttered as he gazed at the butchered body of yet another friend who was a victim of Morrible's so-called "purification campaigns." "Zephyr . . ." Hurontu sat next to his friend's mangled body, his eyes still dry. He had experienced too much loss too fast to be affected by another death anymore. With as much dignity as a Black Bear could, he gently picked up Zephyr's body and buried it.

Hurontu was also greatly troubled. Zephyr was supposed to bring back help. Judging from the scents, Zephyr had accomplished that much.

Hurontu finally realized what had happened, with a feeling of absolute dread in his gut.

Zephyr had brought back help, but the guards were waiting, and captured them on sight. The guards must have also scattered the Animal encampment that was here not too long ago. Hurontu growled to himself. If he had been around, maybe the encampment would still be here, bu no, he had to go out and try to find other Animals. Stupid action on his part. Well, there was nothing he could do about that now.

It would be futile to try and save whoever Zephyr brought back with him. The Emerald City was swarming with guards, and they tended to shoot first and ask questions later. He lowered his head.

Their last chance, their last hope at freedom, was in the hands of Morrible.

In a nearby tree, a crow cawed loudly, but Hurontu ignored it. _Bloodthirsty savage,_ he thought angrily. _Probably wants to eat Zephyr's dead body._ _Well I won't allow that, dammit! He's been butchered already! Isn't that enough?!_

He turned around and roared as loud as he could at the bird, and the crow took off in an instant and disappeared over the horizon.

_Good riddance,_ he thought. But now what?

With a heavy heart, he returned to his den, where a few other Animals were taking shelter. They were not going to like what he was going to tell them.

* * *

"All hope is lost!!"

"They were _captured_?!"

"We need to try and save them!!"

"Are you crazy?! It would be suicide!!

"We have lost this war!"

Hurontu listened to the chaotic cries of frantic Animals after he told them what he had witnessed. They were reacting just as he predicted: completely chaotic and losing all hope.

"SILENCE!" he roared over the Animals' cries. All at once the den fell silent. "Now, we must stay organized here! We must stick together, and search for the other Animals in the encampment."

"What's the point?!" a Lynx yelled desperately. "They were probably killed just like Zephyr!"

"We don't know that for sure-" Hurontu began, but a buzz of agreement rose among the Animals. Hurontu was loosing his patience. Everything was so chaotic and in a total state of disorder. They will never be able to fight against Morrible's armies like this.

"PLEASE, keep your heads on! I can't take all these interruptions! Quiet down and LISTEN TO ME!!" Hurontu roared.

THere were still a few murmurs, but the crowd was under control- for now.

"Now, I know the situation seems desperate, but there are still other Animals out there in hiding, just like us. If we can find them and unite, we can undermine Morrible. It will take time, maybe even years, but right now that's our best shot at stopping Morrible's tyranny."

"How can us Animals fight against her guards?!" a Deer suddenly burst. "We don't have any weapons, and we're not nearly as capable as her army! It would be suicide to try and fight her!"

"Not if we use stealth-" Hurontu began, but he was yet again interrupted by a roar in the crowd, arguing amongst themselves whether or not it was worth it to keep fighting, or if it would just be easier to turn themselves in.

"I have a proposition," a cool, calm voice said, clearly audible, even against the roar of the other Animals. Again, the den fell silent almost immediately. Every head turned around to look at a large Crow, perched calmly on top of a dying tree.

Hurontu recognized it. It was the same Crow he saw when he discovered Zephyr. He narrowed his eyes.

"What do you propose?" Hurontu asked the Crow testily.

"All hope is not lost. We can rescue the ones who have been captured, as well as the Tin Man, Lady Glinda, and even King Osio."

There was a murmur among the throng of gathered Animals.

"That's impossible!" Hurontu growled. "How are we supposed to do that?! There are guards everywhere! We'll never make it within a hundred yards of the Emerald City walls!"

The Crow laughed quietly. "Fortunate for you, all has been planned. All we need is your alliance. If you agree to swear loyalty and an alliance with my commander, we will fight together and triumph over Morrible and her army. This I can promise you."

All the Animals exploded into a frenzy, some eager to ally themselves with the Crow, others critisizing him and calling him a fool. Hurontu quieted the crowds and organized a discussion on the best option for them. After much debate, Hurontu was finally able to reach an agreement with everyone and ask one final question to the Crow.

"We will agree to join you and your commander- but first, before we join you, we want to know who your commander is," Hurontu said.

"Naturally," the Crow said. He then turned towards the den's entrance and gave three loud caws.

A figure suddenly and stealthily entered through the den's tiny entrance, like a phantom. The Crow bowed slightly to the figure, and the figure gave a nod back. Hurontu rose to his hind feet to show this new figure exactly who was in charge here. Hurontu squinted in the dim light, but he could't quite make out the outline.

Until, that is, he caught a whiff of the figure's scent.

All the Animals gasped in shock, many scuttled backwards, away from the figure. Even Hurontu was stunned beyond belief, hardly registering in his mind what he was seeing.

"But . . . you're dead . . ." Hurontu gasped.

The figure smiled. "Well, I can't be dead if I'm standing right here, now, can I?" he said, smiling crookedly, his sapphire-blue eyes sparkling mischieviously.


	4. Prison

**Wow, this is a long chapter . . . **

**But I was so eager to write this that I just couldn't wait. **

**This chapter is, however, very dark and depressing. I don't want to scare you away, but I do want to give you just a little warning.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!!**

**Disclaimer: I've been checking my mail alot recently. I have yet to recieve a letter claiming that I have ownership over any of the Wicked/Wizard of Oz characters.**

* * *

It was nearing dark, the sun setting in the distant horizon, staining the sky blood-red as it retreated to give way to the inky-blackness of night. As it got later and later, I noted how quickly the impending night stretched its pitch-black hands across the sky and consumed all the light that was left.

The Emerald City was approaching. It was like a tiny glistening green bead, shining brightly against the black backdrop of the ever-consuming night. But as we got closer, I realized the light was not from the city itself, but rather from enormous bonfires surrounding it, from the small villages around the city. There was a sickening scent in the air, and I gagged at the stench, wondering what in the name of God these crazed and brainwashed people could be burning that smelled so disgusting.

As we came closer, I saw dozens, perhaps even a hundred of zombie-like villagers standing in a circle around a huge bonfire, about twenty feet in diameter. I saw poles poking out of the fire, and when I squinted, I saw that there was something tied to the poles. In fact, there were several somethings attached to each pole. I grew only more confused. What were they burning?

There was a sudden commotion off to one side, and the guards paused briefly to see what was going on. I turned around. And saw that several villagers were dragging an animal. No, an Animal. Its desperate and frantic cries echoed throughout the town as it pleaded and begged to be released. I saw that it was a Fox. I wanted desperately to help him, but the guards only laughed at us as we tried to struggle out of their grasp and help the Fox.

"Struggle all you want, you'll never escape us!" the leader said.

Hunk was enraged, and he elbowed one of the guards holding him in the rib. He was then cuffed in the back of the head with the butt of a rifle. He crashed to his knees, and the leader of the guards grabbed his hair and forced Hunk to look at him.

"Insubordinate little bastard," the leader snarled. "I'm going to show you what we do to rebels like you!"

He then grabbed the Fox from the villagers, and tied the Fox's legs together, then tied his legs to a long wooden pole.

I suddenly had a very terrible feeling in my heart.

The leader, with several other guards, hoisted the pole up, and pushed it into the fire. The Fox screamed and cried with pain as his fur immediately caught fire. I watched with absolute horror as the poor creature twisted and writhed with pain, his whole body now on fire. The screams eventually stopped, but I could still hear the echoes. I collapsed on the ground and buried my head in my arms, trying to block out the horror I had just witnessed.

How could these people just stand there and watch as someone was burned alive? What the hell was going on here?!

The leader turned to us and looked at us with the most evil smile I had ever seen on a person's face. His features were illuminated by the unholy fire, casting shadows across his face that grossly exaggerated his features, and I couldn't help but think of him as a demon straight from hell.

And from what I had seen, he might as well have been.

"What do you think now?" he asked quietly, his voice dripping with wickedness and malice.

I couldn't speak. I was terrified of him. But I was even more terrified about what would happen to me.

"I think you're more evil than the so-called 'Wicked Witch' and deserve to rot in hell for eternity!!" Hunk yelled. He was infuriated beyond anything I had ever seen before, and I couldn't help but admire how brave he was now, in the face of death and in the hands of these heartless murderers.

The leader frowned. "You're not afraid. Why?"

"Because I know that you're just a sniveling little coward that can hide behind a big stick whenever someone threatens him!" Hunk challenged, his eyes glowing in the firelight.

The leader gritted his teeth, and punched Hunk as hard as he could across his face. But Hunk just laughed.

"You're a coward to attack a man who can't even defend himself!" Hunk said, laughing, a grin across his face. "I knew it!"

The leader took out a knife and pressed it against Hunk's throat. "Don't tempt me," he hissed venomously. "You're only alive right now because you're friends with that Dorothy bitch, and Morrible would want to deal with you two personally!"

"Call Dorothy a bitch again, and I will kill you!" Hunk said in a voice that was equally as dangerous.

I was astonished how Hunk was able to take such abuse and still manage to keep his composure through all this.

The leader ignored Hunk's last remark and took us to the Emerald City gates, and led us inside. At least ten guards were stationed around the gate, and eyed us suspiciously. The leader explained to the guards who we were, and the guard's eyes widened in shock, and then laughed coldly.

"We've caught Dorothy! Now nothing will stop Morrible!" I heard one guard say.

"Her execution will be a riot!" another said, laughing loudly.

"Do you think Morrible will let us torture her friend?"

I was horrified, and pressed close to Hunk for comfort. He leaned his head on me, his new method for comforting me.

"Don't be afraid," he said quietly.

"How can you help it? They're going to kill us!!"

"Don't show them that you're afraid. You need to be stronger than ever right now. Be strong in front of this Morrible bitch," he said quietly so the guards didn't overhear.

I nodded, and inhaled deeply, masking my expression of terror with one of indifference. If Hunk could pull it of, I could too. I had to try, at least.

We walked down the broken cobblestone road to the palace, and I saw that poverty and decay had struck here as well, even moreso than in the tiny villages outside. Buildings were in desperate need of repair; nearly all the windows were broken and were covered in ragged, dirty pieces of cloth. The once elegant and smooth road was now chipped and scarred by deep cracks and grass creeped through the holes in the road. The citizens looked at us, and jeered at us, throwing all sorts of objects at us, from rotting food to plant pots. I kept my promise to Hunk and tried to appear calm and unafraid, which greatly contradicted my emotions inside.

When we reached the palace, I was stunned by how unchanged it was. It still stood with all its glory, shining like a beacon against the destroyed city around it. However, the palace gave me an unsettling feeling, and just looking at it sent shivers across my fatigued body.

The guards took us inside, down the same long corridor I had once gone down five years ago. In the throne room, which still had the fiery torches and elegant furnishings, sat Morrible upon the same enormous and carefully decorated throne the Wizard once sat, or rather, floated, on. I couldn't see her clearly behind the guard that was standing in front of me, but a sensation inside of me told me that she was staring right at me.

"What are you doing, Malnor?" Morrible asked coldly. I twitched inwardly at the sound of her loathsome voice.

"We have two rebels I think you will be very interested in seeing," the leader, apparently named Malnor, said.

"I have no time for this nonsense-"

The guards stepped away from us, allowing Morrible to see us completely. She stood up slowly, completely shocked at what she was seeing. I eyed her angrily, keeping my fear inside. For the moment, I had to show Morrible that I was unafraid of her.

"Is it possible . . ." she gasped quietly. "Yes, yes it is! After all these years, I still recognize your face! Dorothy!" Morrible happily stepped down from her throne and pranced up to us in a triumphant gait, which made me hate her even more. Soon, all of my fear was gone and I was left with nothing but a complete hatred of Morrible and all she has done to this country.

She looked at me intensely, then grabbed my face and turned it side to side, looking at every detail. I tried to resist her powerful grasp, but I was exhausted and hardly one to put up a fight. Still, I managed to jerk my head out of her grasp and glare at her with as much hatred as I could muster.

"Keep your hands off me, bitch," I said.

Morrible went rigid, and glared at me angrily. "Girl, do you know who I am?"

"A bitch?" Hunk said under his breath.

"I am the Queen of Oz! I have absolute control over everything that happens! I can kill you right here, right now if I so choose, so count your blessings that you're not dead right this second!!" She then grinned. "So, this was Glinda's last attempt to seek help? By far her most pathetic attempt yet. And now, nothing can possibly stand in my way. All of my opposers are either dead, like your precious little straw-stuffed boyfriend, or in prison!!"

I just stared at her, trying to keep my mask of certainty, but it cracked and revealed that I was truly afraid and frightened. Morrible saw it, too.

"Oh, yes, I know all about your little friend, and how the idiot committed suicide! And now, thankfully, it was one less problem I had to deal with! Your other friends weren't much of a challenge, either. That wretched Animal friend of yours -what's his name, now? Osio?- went down with hardly a fight. He's as much as a coward as ever!"

"You're lying!" I said, my voice cracking slightly. But, I hoped, deep down, that what she said about Fiyero was false. He couldn't be dead . . . could he?

All the sudden, I didn't feel so sure about Fiyero anymore.

Morrible laughed and went on. "You're tin friend fared no better. And Glinda, ha! She was the easiest to take down! And now, with Glinda in prison, the Animals have dispersed and are falling into a state of hysteria! It won't be long before I find and kill every last one of them!"

I was horrified by what I heard. How could Morrible kill all those Animals?

Morrible turned to the commander, Malnor. "Take them down to Southstair! And make sure their friends get a good look at them!"

The guards once again grabbed us and took us off to a side corridor, down a long, cold hall that spiraled downwards to the depths of the palace's basement. The way was lit by small torches, and as we descended deeper and deeper, it became colder and colder, and soon I was once again shivering. I felt like I was on the mountain again.

When we finally reached the bottom, a huge cavern opened up before us. The cells were carved into the stone itself, with the iron bar doors locking the prisoners inside. THe ceiling was a high arch, from which candle chandeliers hung from, immersing the prison into a dim gloom. As we passed by some of the cells, I saw prisoners of all kind, both human and Animal, each in a different state of suffering. It was easy to tell who were the new prisoners, and which had been in these cold stone cells for quite some time. The newer prisoners still looked somewhat healthy, with meat still on their bones and enough energy to pace inside of their cells with anxiety. They all looked at us as we passed, and they all stared at us with eyes full of pity. The older ones, the ones who have been down here the longest, looked starved and ragged, barely more than skin and bones. There were quite a few prisoners that I thought were dead, but when I looked closer, I could see their chest fall and raise in shallow harsh gasps. Some prisoners were physically abused to the point where their entire bodies were covered with black and blue bruises. The cries of the starving and the suffering echoed around the cavern, and gave the prison a hopeless and depressing feeling beyond anything I had experienced before. Just walking through there was enough to make me break down and cry. But I refused to do that. I had to be strong. For Hunk, if for nothing else.

The guards finally stopped us in front of one of the larger cells, and made us stand in front of the door. Inside was a Lion, with heavy iron chains wrapped around his legs and head. He was very thin, starved, and his fur was matted with blood, a sure sign of extreme physical beating and torture. He was laying on the ground, turned away from us, which only exposed cruel scars across his back. I felt a tear slide down my cheek. Although I couldn't see the Lion's face, I knew who it was.

"Osio," I whispered quietly.

The Lion slowly turned around, the iron chains scraping against the stone floor. His eyes were glazed and exhausted, and he had barely enough strength to keep his head up. But his eyes lit up, however slightly, when he saw me, and a small grin crossed over his muzzle.

"Dorothy," he said in a ragged voice. "Is that really you?"

"Yes, it's me." I said quietly.

Osio then lowered his head, and I heard a quiet sob escape from him. "So, they even got you, too?"

I lowered my head sadly. I couldn't answer him. It destroyed me to think how much I must have disappointed him.

"I'm sorry," I finally said.

"Don't waste your breath. None of this is your fault," he whispered hoarsely.

The guards then grabbed us again and dragged us away. I didn't want to leave Osio and let him suffer all by himself. Tears spilled from my eyes as I thought about how horrible he has been treated, and how much torture he had endured.

We walked further, deeper and deeper inside the prison, and once again, we stopped in front of yet another jail cell. But unlike the others, this one was brightly lit and had several people who looked like scientists inside of it, working around a table that was bolted vertically to the far wall. Something was chained to the table, but the people were blocking it from view. Malnor yelled at the people inside the cell, and they moved away from the table.

I screamed when I saw what was inside.

"Son of a bitch!!" Hunk screamed.

It was Boq, chained upright and strapped to the table. But that's not what made me scream. He was completely rusted. He couldn't move in any way. Only his eyes remained unfrozen, and his eyes rested on me, and I could see an oily tear fall from his eye. He then suddenly twitched and spasmed like he was having a seizure, and I saw that one of the scientists was electrocuting him, sending hundreds of volts coarsing throughout his metal body. Even when they stopped, Boq continued to twitch and convulse. He was spasing so violently that a thick layer of rust coated the floor.

"Oh, Jesus, if they keep that up, he'll short!" Hunk whispered.

"What does that mean?" I whispered fearfully.

Hunk only looked at me. And his look told me more than words could.

The guards, yet again, dragged us onwards, and they had to carry me away. I kicked and screamed and fought them in every way that I could. I couldn't let those people hurt Boq! A guard finally punched me, hard, in the gut, knocking the wind out of me and subduing me enough to keep me moving onwards and deeper into the prison. Hunk had at least three guards on him, all with their knives against his throat, and as brave as Hunk was, he didn't dare to refuse them.

The prison seemed to never end. We walked for what seemed like hours down the long dark corridors, eerily illuminated by the flickering torches that cast foreboding shadows across the walls. After a long time, we stopped for the third time in front of a small cell, heavily guarded and with bars thicker than my forearms.

Inside the cell, curled upright in the far corner, her head resting on her arms and her arms on her knees, was Glinda. But she was nothing like the Glinda I knew five years ago. The Glinda I used to knw had a lively spirit, and was very beautiful, and her clear blue eyes were full of life. This Glinda, the Glinda locked up in the cold cell, was disturbingly thin and gaunt, her hair disheveled, her eyes void of the former life and spirit she used to have. She wore little more than a ragged, filthy frock, stained with mud and dirt. When we approached her, she looked up, but remained emotionless. Not even her wary eyes lit up the slightest bit like Osio's had.

"Glinda, I'm so sorry," I said quietly. Still, she did not respond. "I tried to help you, but I failed." The words struck my heart like a flash of lightning, and I broke down into quiet sobs. Tears fell from my eyes like waterfalls. "Oh, God, please forgive me. I'm so sorry that I couldn't help you, or anyone else!"

"No, I'm the one who should be sorry," Glinda said suddenly. I was so surprise that she responded that I was able to stop crying. "I'm sorry for bringing you here. I should have never contacted you. Now you're going to die along with me, Tin Man, and Osio." I was stunnned by how blunt she was about our impending death. She saw my shocked expression and went on. "If I never contacted you, you would still be home but now you're going to be another casualty. I'm sorry Dorothy. And I'm sorry your friend is going to have to die, as well," she said, looking up at Hunk. She lowered her head once again into her arms. "I'm sure Morrible is plotting our deaths right this minute. It's funny how easy she can control us, like her little pets, to do whatever she pleases, and I could barely keep a country together. Everything is my fault. And now I'm going to pay for it. Good-bye, Dorothy."

"Glinda!" Hunk said suddenly. Both me and Glinda shot our heads up and looked at him, stunned to even see him talking.

"You're being completely irrational!" he said, a mix of anger and encouragement in his voice. "None of this is your fault! It's Morrible! How could you ever see this coming? And don't blame yourself for a second that you got us involved as well. You did what you had to do, and what any great leader would have done in a crisis. And what kind of friends would we be if we didn't at least try to help you?"

Glinda smiled sadly. "What's your name?"

"Hunk," he said a little quieter.

"Hunk," she repeated, her smile disappearing. "You're so young and naive. You remind me of an old friend, who also died, a long time ago. Five years, in fact."

Hunk and I exchanged glances, but remained silent.

"You don't blame me, and I can't help but marvel at your sincerity. But you're a fool. Anyone with half a brain would want me dead because of what I've done." Tears glistened her eyes, and she quickly buried her head in her arms arms again. "Oh, sweet Oz, I've done so many horrible things! I deserve to die! Not Elphie, never Elphie! Oh! What have I done?! _What have I done?!"_

The guards took us away, leaving Glinda screaming and crying hysterically in her cell. They then opened up two unoccupied cells, and threw me in one, and Hunk in the other. One guard came in and chained my hands to a pair of handcuffs on the far side of the wall, and the chain attatched to the cuffs gave me enough room to allow me to sit on the dirty and musky floor. The cuffs were made of rusting iron that bit into my skin, and left my hands feeling sore and numb. The guard laughed at me and taunted me harshly before he finally left and locked me inside the cell, bolting the iron doors shut. I could hear the rustle of rusty chains as the guards in the cell next to mine tied up and chained Hunk. After a few minutes, the guards left, leaving us alone in the cold, dark prison cells. I collapsed against the walls, exhausted in every possible way. I thought about my other friends in prison, and the terrible conditions they were in. Osio, who had been brutally beaten and had barely enough strength to stand; Boq, who was strapped to a table with scientists crawling all over him, dissecting him and performing horrible experiments on him, and rusted solid. And Glinda, who was starved and slowly going insane as she blamed herself for all of Morrible's terrible deeds.

I broke out and cried like I had never cried in my life. I curled up into a ball, and buried my head in my knees, crying out all the terrible things I had witnessed in the past few hours that I've been here. The hawk that was brutally killed right in front of me. The terrible ascent through the mountain pass. Watching as villagers burned an innocent Fox alive. And now . . . afer seeing what the prisons had done to so many people, I couldn't help but grieve that soon we would be just like them.

"Dorothy, are you ok?" I heard Hunk call out.

"What do you think?!" I yelled in between sobs. "We're going to die!! Do you think I'm fucking ok right now?!"

There was a silence that hung in the air like an incoming storm. I managed to control myself, and stop crying long enough to apologize to Hunk for snapping at him like that.

"Things aren't looking too good," he admitted sadly.

"Right now, I would gladly live in our old shitty city in out old shitty apartment," I said softly. "Compared to this, that would be paradise."

"Can't argue with that," Hunk said. "But we need to keep this together for as long as we can. We need to be strong, right here, right now, now more than ever. If we can show Morrible that we're not afraid, she'll get intimidated, and other people who are resisting her will see that, and maybe there can be some good that comes from that."

"Are you saying that by us being martyrs there will be a revolution and Morrible will fall?"

"Well, I like to think that that's possible," Hunk said.

"What the hell's wrong with you? You're not afraid by the fact that we're going to die soon?"

"We're alive now, right? Let's try to make the most of it."

I sighed. "I guess you're right. After all, I have nothing better to do."

"Promise me you won't give up on me, ok?"

I smiled. At least I had a great cellmate to keep me company.

"I would never give up on you, Hunk."


	5. The Dead Come Back To Life

**Ok, to comensate for last chapter, this one's going to be a little shorter. By now, you should understand how the story's going, and what the mood is. A lot more serious than other fanfics, isn't it? But don't worry, it will get a little lighter. A little. **

**But, without much further adieu, the next chapter. **

There was no sense of time in the prison. There was no way of knowing if hours have passed, or only minutes. Locked up in that cold, gloomy cell made time seem like an eternity, or nothing at all.

I fell asleep soon after I was chained up to the wall, exhausted from everything I've been through so far. I woke up . . . I don't even know how much longer later. But I was sore and stiff from lying on the floor curled up in a ball. When I woke, I could hear Hunk's even and slow breaths, however faintly. He was obviously asleep as well. I didn't blame him.

The guards fed us rarely, and when they did, there was hardly anything on the disgustingly dirty trays they gave us. And they never forgot to give us a good dose of physical and verbal abuse. Several times, when I reached for the food, starving, they would strike my hands with short whips and the contents of the tray would splatter against the floor. And I would have to wait for the next time they came, if they ever did.

They would do that several times in a row.

They were starving us terribly. Soon, I had hardly any strength. I spent the days leaning against the wall, eyes closed, but too plagued by terrible nightmares to sleep. I was haunted by one reaccuring one; the same one that I had five years ago when I first came to Oz. The nightmare, however, was much worse now. Hunk was still tied to a crucifix, hanging like a scarecrow in the middle of a dried cornfield. He was badly beaten, ragged, and starved. Crows circled overhead, hundreds of them, screaming out their lust for his blood. But now, several soldiers would come up to him, and beat him relentlessly. When they were done with their fun, Hunk would be hanging lifelessly from the pole. Blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth onto the dried crusted earth. And the dripping blood spelled one simple haunting sentence that would shine like a red moon against a ptch black and forbidding night.

WHY COULDN'T YOU SAVE ME?

I would wake with a start, and scream Hunk's name until he responded. I would cry with relief that he was still alive as I retold my horrible nightmare to him.

Hunk was doing his best to keep me talking, to keep me company, but it was a losing battle, and he knew it. But he was relentless. He would wake me by singing loud, obnoxious songs. The first few times it was funny, and made me laugh, but far too soon it just pissed me off.

"_We beat the eggs, we whip the cream! We chop the heads off the lettuce, doo doo. We eat the baby carrots! We mash the potatoes, and squash the tomatoes! We beat the eggs, we whip the cream! And that's how humans are mean to food!_ Oh yeah!"

"Hunk, would you shut up?! I'm not in the mood!" I yelled one day as Hunk, yet again, attempted to raise my spirits by singing another one of his ridiculous songs.

"Well, that's why I'm singing. To get you in the mood!"

"Hunk, for the love of fucking God!!" I screamed, going hysterical. "We're locked in a fucking prison! We haven't had a decent meal in God knows how long, we're fucking starving here, and you're just singing away _like nothing the fuck is wrong!!"_

There was a short silence. "Do you think I'm that retarded to not notice?! In case you haven't noticed, I'm right here, too! I'm suffering just as much as you are, probably even more! Oh, Dorothy, if you could see the scars they gave me! I have them all up and down my arms! They would take out their whips and unleash hell on me! And I can't do a damn thing because I'm clamped tight to this fucking wall! I can't even sit down! You think you have it tough?! Well, I'd gladly switch places with you right now! At least they feed you! I haven't had anything to eat since we got here! And I've never fucking complained about it!! And let's not forget who it was who had to drag you all the way up and down that mountain pass! I have been helping you in every way I can, and you're throwing it all back in my face! You're such an ungrateful little bitch!!"

There was the longest silence in my life after Hunk's rant. Never, in his life, had he ever swore like that before. Never, as long as I remember, has Hunk ever gotten angry at me. And never, in all my years of being friends with him, have we ever fought.

We never, ever fought. Never.

I felt like Hunk had just stabbed a hot iron sword through my heart and twisted it. I had no idea. I had no idea how bad it was for him. I instantly felt ashamed. He was trying to be a friend by comforting me and keeping me strong, but I was just spat it in his face. He was absolutely right. I was being an ungrateful bitch right now.

"Dorothy, I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I didn't mean to get upset with you. I didn't mean what I said. I guess I'm a little more uptight than I thought I was-"

"No, Hunk, don't apologize. You're absolutely right. I am being such an asshole right now. I'm so blind and can't even see that you're trying to help me. I'm so sorry."

"Can we just pretend like this never happened?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

There was another long and uncomfortable silence.

"Hey, uh, Dorothy?" Hunk said after a while.

"Yes?"

"I've been meaning to ask you this, but keep forgetting: do you still have that pocket knife?"

Holy crap! I might! I forgot about it! I reached into the pocket where I stowed it, but found nothing. Frantically, I checked my other pants pockets. Nothing.

"Shit, no. They must've confiscated it and I didn't even notice."

"Same here. They took my pistol from me when they first captured us. Now that Malnor bastard has it. And that was the only thing I could get before the landlord claimed everything."

I could tell that Hunk was extremely upset about this. I could imagine how much it must've meant to him. I knew very little about Hunk's childhood, or his past in general, but I knew that his parents were divorced and had somehow ended up with me and my uncle and aunt. Supposedly, Uncle Henry was Hunk's father's friend, but they never did tell me the whole story. And I never dared to ask him about it. And I sure as hell wasn't going to bring it up now.

We sat in a mutual silence for what seemed like hours. For all I knew, it could have been only minutes, or days. Suddenly, I heard someone coming. Another guard. I groaned and sat against the wall, waiting for whatever they had in store for me now. When the guard came into view, I saw that this was a new guard, a younger one, barely a few years older than myself. He came in my cell, and I could immediately sense something different about him. He didn't have the same cruel smile that so many other guards bore across their unmarred faces. He, in fact, seemed to be more compassionate, and something shone in his eyes that was very close to pity. This one, apparently, was not yet completely brainwashed to be nothing more than a mindless, merciless murderous drone. I couldn't help but wonder how long it would be until he would become one of _them_.

"I have something to tell you," he said crisply, with a note of authority in his voice. He, however, did not sound the least bit hostile.

I just looked at him expressionless. "What is it?" I said softly.

"Queen Morrible has decided on your execution date. It will be held five days from now, at noon, in front of the entire city. Your death will be a demonstration of what happens to traitors." His eyes softened, and I could tell he was upset to deliver this news. "I'm sorry. I wouldn't want you to die. But the Queen has directly given the orders herself. There's nothing to be done now, except wait."

I studied him. "What is your name?" I asked.

He seemed startled that I was talking to him so calmly and not the least bit upset that he just told me I was going to die. I had accept my fate a long time ago. I've had plenty of time to prepare myself for this.

"Ferior," he said after a short pause. "My name is Ferior Kaleil."

"Ferior Kaleil," I repeated slowly and deliberately. "Would you believe me if I told you that Morrible is a fraud and a heartless, corrupted ruler?"

"Of course I would," he muttered. "She's holding my family hostage, and if I don't do what she tells me, she'll kill them, starting with my youngest baby girl. Only three month old. And Morrible won't hesitate to kill her if I refuse. I have no choice in this. You either join or die." He looked at me yet again and sighed. "I admire your braverism. You have an admirable amount of courage to stand up to her and not be afraid to die."

"Oh, believe me, I'm terrified to die," I said. "I would probably do the same thing if I were in your shoes. The only thing is that I have no family left, except for my friend next door.

"I'm sorry. I really am." Ferior said. And he seemed genuinely upset about it as well. With a sigh, he closed the door behind him and locked me in. "I will pray to the Unnamed God that Morrible will be merciful enough to grant you a swift and painless death."

"And I will pray that she will set your family free."

He smiled at me wearily. "Thank you. And good-bye, Dorothy."

Wit hthat, he disappeared down the hall as quickly and as quietly as a phantom. Little did I know that another phantom lurked in the prisons, but this ghost took the shape of a Crow. After witnessing what had taken place, the Crow took flight to deliver the urgent news to his commander.

* * *

"Five days?"

"Yes, sir."

A sigh. "Then we better get moving."

He then cleared his throat, and the cavern of Animals fell silent. Hurontu and the others looked expectantly at their new leader. Hurontu felt confident in their choice to follow him. He sure as hell knew what he was doing, and he didn't screw around with it. Hurontu smiled inwardly. With him, they just might have a chance.

"The execution date is set to five days from now," the new leader announced. A collective gasp rippled throughout the crowd. The leader smiled his crooked smile.

"I say we go in there, kick some ass, and save our friends. What do you say?"

A roar erupted in the cavern. He had whipped the Animals into a fighting frenzy in no time flat. When he first took charge, many of the Animals had doubt in him and his capabilities, but he quickly showed them how competent he really was. And what really counted in what he did was that he had united all the Animals and raised their hopes and spirit. Hurontu was impressed. This guy sure knew how to bring together an army. He had a _really_ good feeling about this guy.

"Let's move out."

* * *

Five days. What could I do in five days? I had no freaking clue.

I sighed. Shit. It was daunting, really, to know that your life was going to end in just a few short days. It was even more depressing to know that someone could control your life so completely, and decide whether you are worthy to live.

I heard some more movement outside. But it was so quiet and soft I wondered if I was just making it up. I walked over to the iron door, and looked out into the dim, gloomy hallways. Nothing.

Or at least, I thought so. Then an enormous shadow dropped quietly from the ceiling, hardly making a sound as it hit the stone floor. I gasped and stumbled backwards. The shadow stood to full height, and I could see that it was a person, but the light was so poor I couldn't make out the details. But then the shadow spoke.

"Did I scare ya?"

Holy shit . . . I knew that voice. and as he stepped closer to the door, I could clearly see his features. But one feature that confirmed what I was seeing was his eyes. I could never forget those eyes.

"Heh, I'll take that as a yes. Damn, still better at scaring people than scaring crows. I'm gonna have to work on that, won't I?"

_"Fiyero!"_


	6. The BreakOut and the Confession

**HAPPY BELATED FOURTH OF JULY!! WOOOHOO! I like watching stuff blow up! YAY!**

**Ahem. **

**Before you read on, there's something I need to clarify with y'all. Ok, take whatever image you have of the Tin Man, and chuck it out the window. Forget the stupid 1939 Wizard of Oz Tin Man. The Tin Man in my story, for the sake of comprehension, and because I'm a nerd like this, is very robot-looking. Like . . . y'know what, just go to my deviantart page and look at my Wizard of Oz picture to get a general idea, k?**

**But anyway, here you go! To continue on with the cliffhanger!**

"Fiyero!" I cried weakly. I tried to stand, but I found I had barely enough energy to do even that. I managed to push myself to my feet, and my knees almost buckled underneath me. "On, god Fiyero! I knew it! I knew that you were still alive! Oh, thank God! Thank God you're alive!"

"Dorothy, please, quiet!" Fiyero whispered harshly. "We can't afford to have guards hear you making a commotion! They're all over the place! You need to be quiet!"

I started to blush, realizing the truth in his words, but unable to contain my excitement. It was as if he had risen from the dead to rescue me. What a miracle.

"Dorothy, what's going on over there? Who are you talking to?" Hunk called out from within his cell.

"Who's that?" Fiyero asked quietly, looking over at Hunk's cell.

"That's my friend, Hunk," I said.

"What's he doing here?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

"He wanted to come along," I said quietly. "He didn't want me to go to Oz alone."

"Well, you have a very wise friend, Dorothy," Fiyero remarked.

"And it's because of him that I'm still alive. If it weren't for him, I might've died when they first captured me," I said, unable to hide the note of pride in my voice.

"Dorothy? Can you hear me?" Hunk called out again.

"Yes." I said a little louder. "It's Fiyero! He's come to rescue us!"

"Fiyero? Oh, do you mean your scarecrow friend?"

"Yes," Fiyero said to him, sounding a little irritated. "I'm the scarecrow."

"Holy crap."

I then looked at Fiyero more closely, noting his appearance. He was in fact still a scarecrow, with the same blue eyes and the same painted nose with the same straw hair and lopsided smile. His black hat was missing, and I could now see his straw hair more fully, which was still pulled back into a ponytail. His clothes however, were much different from when I first saw him. Now he had a black tunic on with green trimming and green cuffs, and yellow braids on his shoulders. His once white cloth gloves were now replaced with black ones made of leather. He still had a large black belt across his waist, but now he wore black pants and heavy black boots with silver buckles. On his tunic was a chest pocket, and strapped across his chest was a gun holster. And along with his belt, he had a sword strapped around his torso and the golden handle gleamed even in the dreary light. It was as if Fiyero had been transformed into a soldier over the past five years, a very likely guess. I couldn't help but stare at Fiyero's sword. Where did he get that?!

Fiyer then pulled out a thin wire from his pocket and started to pick the lock. "I'll have you out of here in no time," he said, working furiously. Prodding and poking and twisting and turnng, his hands flew as he tried to coax the lock to open. I could tell that Fiyero has had a lot of practice with lock-picking before. There was so much I wanted to ask him. I didn't even know where to begin.

"Fiyero, what happened?" I finally asked.

"What do you mean?" he said, not taking his eyes off the lock.

"What's been going on ever since I left? What have you been doing? And how was Morrible able to rise to power and overthrow Glinda?"

Fiyero paused, howecver briefly, before he started to work again with a feverish frenzy. "When I faked my death, I joined Elphaba and we moved to the outskirts of Oz, hidden from anyone, and in one of the most secluded areas in the country. We kept tabs on how Glinda was doing. We would watch her with Elphaba's crystal ball. Glinda was doing a great job at first, giving the Animals back their rights and fixing up all the wizard had screwed up. The Lion had taken his place as King of the Forest, and Boq, or Tin Man as he's known, stayed within the Emerald City to help glinda in any way he can."

"Does Glinda know who he is?"

Another brief pause. "No."

"Why didn't he tell her?"

This time Fiyero stopped completely, and looked at me with saddened eyes. "He hasn't the heart to tell her. Long ago, when we were just students, Boq loved Glinda immensely, but Glinda was nmever interested in him. She had her eyes set on me. We . . . well, we were dating."

I was shocked. "You were dating Glinda?!"

"Yes, but try to understand that it was very long ago, and I was young and stupid. I didn't know any better. She was pretty, I was a popular prince, and. . . I'm getting off topic here. That's not important. Point is, Boq has been waiting for quite some time for the opportune moment to make his move on her, after I left Glinda for Elphaba. Unfortunately for him, before he ever could . . . . Elphaba turned him into tin. And now Boq feels he will never be accepted by Glinda."

"But why did Elphaba even turn him into the Tin Man in the first place?"

Fiyero sighed. "From what I've heard from Elphaba, Nessarose, Elphaba's sister, always had this huge crush on Boq. But Boq didn't like her, or trust her. So Nessa forced him to live in her mansion as her servant, since she was the governor of Munchkinland. When Boq heard that I left Glinda, he finally told Nessa that he'd had enough and he was leaving. Naturally, Nessa became furious with him and tried to curse him so he'd lose his heart. The spell didn't work. Well, not immediately. it was only a few days later that the spell finally took affect and started to destroy his heart. Fortunately, Elphaba was there, and saved him the only way she could."

"By turning him into tin," I finished for him.

"Exactly. Elphaba made it sound like she was only doing it to make him suffer, but really she was just saving his life." He started to work on the lock again. "But anyway, back to the main topic. Morrible has always had her followers, and people who would gladly die for her. From within the prison, she was able to reach out to them and get them into Glinda's own army and guards. Soon, Morrible had managed to replace all of Glinda's guards with people who were still loyal to Morrible. After that, it was easy to topple Glinda and the only two people who were still loyal to her. When Glinda was overthrown, the people went into a hysteria and Morrible was able to contain them by using her spells to control them. Morrible then started her 'purification campains' by killing all the Animals she could get her hands on. There were massive murderings, hundreds of deaths within a span of a few days. People who supported the Animals were killed or imprisoned as well. But a few have managed to evade her by going undergrown and go into hiding. Currently, we have a large number of Animals hidden from Morrible along with several dozen people who are trustworthy and support us. And now, we will have an army ready soon, and I'll lead the charge to overthrow and stop Morrible once and for all."

_Click._

The lock came undone, and Fiyero slipped inside the cell and made quick work of the rusty cuffs. When he pulled them off my sore hands, I couldn't resist to give him a hug, which took an incredible amount of energy. I had no idea just how badly i was weakened by being i mprisoned. I felt Fiyero stiffen slightly underneath, but he eased up and rapped his arms around my waist.

"You have no idea how happy I am to see you," I whispered, tears sliding down my face. "I thought I was going to die."

"Don't worry, you're going to be ok now. But right now, I need you help rescuing Boq and Osio."

"What about Glinda?" I asked, pulling away.

"Elphaba's going to get her."

"But Glinda's going to freak out when she sees her!"

"You don't have to worry about that. Elphaba is perfectly capable of casting a sleeping spell over her long enough for Elphaba to get her out of there. Now, before we get your friend, you need to get your strength back."

"Well, how are you going to do that? With some magic potion?" I asked sarcastically.

"No, but with something very similar." He then pulled out what looked like a giant brown lumpy candy bar out of his jacket. "Here, eat this. It's loaded with carbs and crap and will get you feeling as good as new in no time. This is what they fed us in the Gale Force when we had to march for days on end without rest. They taste like crap, but they work miracles."

I took it and devoured it. After being starved for days, even that disgusting protein bar tasted delicious. Almost immediately after I first bit into it, I felt my strengh return and energy burst throughout my body like a dam just exploded.

Fiyero laughed. "You know you're starving when you inhale _those_ things!"

We then went to the next cell over, where Hunk was chained to the wall forced to stand upright. He looked stunned to see Fiyero. And I didn't really blame him. It wasn't every day that you saw a talking scarecrow.

Fiyero started to work on the lock once more, and this time it hardly took him a minute to pick. We rushed inside the cell and Fiyero broke Hunk out of his cuffs in no time. Hunk rubbed his wrists and rolled his shoulders, apparently stiff and sore from being held in such an uncomfortable position.

I ran up and embraced him with all my strength, and he embraced me just as passionately. We stood there wordlessly for a while, relishing each other's company and finally being united. We finally pulled apart, and hunk stared at Fiyero again.

"So, uh, you're a . . . um, scarecrow. . ." he said uneasily.

Fiyero spreaded his arms out. "You meet some interesting folks here in Oz."

"Scarecrows and tin men and talking lions. Oh, lord . . ." Hunk muttered.

Fiyero chuckled. "Hey, you kinda look like me when I was still human."

Hunk stared closer at Fiyero, and his eyes grew wide. "Holy crap, you're right! That's a little creepy."

Fiyero laughed. "Well, I'd love to chat some more, but we have a schedule to keep." Fiyero then handed Hunk an energy bar. Hunk stared at it.

"What's ths?"

"Just eat it. It's like an instant energy burst," I said.

Wordlessly, he bit off a large mouthful and chewed slowly, and twisted his face in distaste.

"Couldn't make this a little more flavorful, could they?" hunk muttered, but finished the rest of the bar without complaint.

Hunk nodded, and we followed Fiyero out of Hunk's cell and down the prison corridors. I then noticed Hunk's scars all along his arms. His arms were covered in dried blood, but underneath I could see the white blistering scar tissue. They were terrible. Huge scars ran up and down his arms, and I noticed how much pain they must've caused Hunk.

"Oh my god, Hunk," I whispered, looking at his scars.

Fiyero turned arond and saw what I was looking at. He only shook his head sadly.

"The guards are merciless bastards. They'll do anything for Morrible," he muttered.

I debated whether or not I should tell him about Ferior. I decided that could wait until we were out of here.

The path was so dark that I could barely see Fiyero walking in front of me. Ad the fact that he was wearing almost all black didn't help either.

"Jesus, I can't see a damn thing," Hunk muttered.

"I know. But try to stay close. The prisons are a maze," Fiyero said.

"Can you see?" I asked.

"Yes. I found out that as a scarecrow, I can see just as clearly at night as in day."

"So you can see in the dark?"

"Yes. It's very useful, trust me."

"I can imagine," Hunk said.

The path split ahead, and Fiyero went a short way down the right-hand path before he stopped. He pulled out something small from within his jacket and motioned us to move against the wall and remained silent. We did so and held our breaths, afraid to make the slightest sound.

We heard three loud chirps, apparently coming from the thing Fiyero was holding. There was a long silence, then we heard two more clicks, somewhat fainter. Fiyero breathed a sigh of releif, then motioned us to follow him. Up ahead, there was a large cavern, and in the cavern was an enormous Black Bear, a Tiger, and a Bat.

Fiyero walked up to the Bear and gave a small nod, looking at the ragtag team of Animals. "You're all here. Good." He then turned around. "These are my most trusted allies, and will help us rescue Osio. The Bat is Echo, he'll be our scout. The Bear is Hurontu, Osio's second-in-command, and the Tiger is Kaer. Hurontu and Kaer will free Osio, and it'll be up to us to rescue Boq. Any questions?"

I shook my head. "No."

Hunk, however, did. "Last time we saw Boq, there were people swarming him like vultures. How are we going to get past them?"

"Boq was moved. He's now in a different cell. There are less guards around there. " Fiyero said. "Is that all?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

* * *

Elphaba stuck to the walls as much as possible, creeping like a shadow down the long winding tunnels of Southstair. Over and over she mentally repeated the instructions on how to get to Glinda's cell.

"Left fork, straight ahead a hundred or so paces, then left again, then an immediate right. Third cell to the right of the dragon statue," she muttered to herself.

Without further hesitation, she swiftly made her way through the prison, carefully counting her steps and keeping a careful eye out for any guards. She hardly made a sound as she steathily glided along, but every time she stumbled or kicked a small pebble, it sounded like an explosion and she would shrink back into the shadows, holding her breath and not daring to move until there was no doubt that she was still undetected.

Finally, she arrived at Glinda's cell. Elphaba mentally noted how few guards she had seen coming down here.

_Morrible must be really thick to leave Glinda unguarded,_ she thought._ Either that or probably the guards are all out killing inocent Animals._

She quickly looked inside, and was relieved to see that Glinda was asleep. Even though her old friend looked more ragged and disheveled than she remembered, Elphaba was glad that Glinda wasn't seriously injured or hurt.

_The same, unfortunately, cannot be said about others,_ Elphaba thought angrily, rememering how Morrible had tortured Osio and Boq. But soon, they will be saved as well.

As a safety precaution, Elphaba still cast the sleeping spell over Glinda to ensure she would not wake up while she was rescuing her. Elphaba then undid the lock on the cell door with another spell, and quietly slipped inside without the door creaking. Glinda wasn't chained up in handcuffs, so that only made Elphaba's job all the easier. Elphaba then picked up Glinda, and was shocked and disturbed at how light she was. She was probably only a little heavier than Fiyero, but he's a scarecrow, for God's sake. Glinda barely felt like anything at all in Elphaba's arms. Alarmed and concerned, she hurried her way back out of the prison. Now came for the hard part. Getting in was difficult, but getting out with a prisoner was going to be even harder.

Not taking as much caution as before at keeping absolutely quiet, she worked her way back through the halls, evading guards and keeping to the shadows. It took Elphaba longer than she anticipated, but she eventually had Glinda in the safety of her barracks. In the barracks, or the den, as the Animals referred it as, Elphaba and Fiyero had managed to put together a resistance comprised of both Animals and people. Here, Glinda would be safe.

Elphaba then started to address Glinda's failing health. As she started to treat her, Elphaba couldn't help but silently pray that Fiyero would be successful in his mission as well.

* * *

I couldn't tell how far we had gone, but soon Fiyero stopped again and motioned for Echo to take a look around the corridor. Echo obediently flew off down the corridor and disappeared into the dark. He soon came back and gave us the "all clear" signal.

"Who are we getting first?" I whispered to Fiyero.

"First we're going to get Osio, and Hurontu and Kaer will bring him back to the barracks. Then me, you, and your friend will get Boq."

I nodded. "Do you know about Boq's condition?"

Fiyero didn't reply to that.

We snuck up to Osio's cell, Echokeeping watch as Fiyero picked the locks on Osio's cell. I noted how skilled he was at lockpicking.

"Get much practice breaking people out of prison?" I asked with a small laugh.

Fiyero shot me a quick glare. "After years of putting innocent people in prison then trying to break them back out would give anyone plenty of practice," he said dryly.

I felt my laughs die in my throat, and just stood there awkwardly until Fiyero broke through and unlocked all of Osio's shackles. Osio was out cold, either unconscious or just sleeping. Wordlessly, Kaer and Hurontu gently lifted Osio onto their backs, and walked side-by-side with Osio draped over them. They gave us a small nod, then vanished back into the darknes of Southstair's tunnels.

"Do they know the way back?" I asked nervously.

Fiyero smiled. "Of course they do. They'll be out of here in no time."

We wasted no time and set off in search of Boq's cell. Echo remained with us to keep an eye out for gurds. Each step I took, I felt more and more afraid of what we would find when we would see him.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, I didn't have to think about it for very long.

Fiyero stopped outside another cell that was barely lit, and I didn't even know it was Boq's cell until Fiyero told me. It was so dark that I couldn't even see Boq inside. But Fiyero could.

"Oh, heaven of the Unnamed God . . ." he whispered.

"What is it? What's wrong?" I ased quickly. Fiyero lit a nearby torch, sending the world around us into a bath of light. I was about to ask him if he was worried about the fire, but that thought vanshed from my mind when I saw what Fiyero had seen.

Boq was still bolted upright to the table, unconscious, with all sorts of strange scientific equipment scattered around the cell. But now, Boq was hooked up to some sort of battery or generator that would periodically shock him with thousands of volts of electricity. Everytime he was shocked, he would twitch and spasm violently, but now his jerks and movements were weak and slow.

"Fuck!" Hunk swore quietly. "Those bastards are still dicking aroun with him like a goddamn lab rat!"

Fiyero had already unlocked the cell, and bolted inside. Hunk and I followed, and immediately rushed to the generator. He pulled his sword out of its sheath and raised it high into the air to cut the wires attached to Boq.

"Wait!" Hunk said. Fiyero stared at him. "Don't do that, or you'll kill him along with us!"

"He'll die if I don't!" Fiyero protested.

"Listen to me! You need to disconnect them without severing the wires, or else the voltage will jump straight to whatever's nearest, which would be us! I don't know about scarecrows, but humans can't handle that sort of voltage!"

Fiyero groaned, but put his sword back in its sheath. "Fine. So what now?"

"Give me two seconds. Dorothy, help me out here."

I rushed to his side. Hunk was carefully looking at the wires. There were five, each a different color, red, green, yellow, blue, and black. Hunk furrowed his brow.

"Shit."

"What?"

"I don't suppose you remember the order of which you're supposed to disconnect wires."

"Um, no."

Hunk stared at the wires for another minute longer. Suddenly, Boq was shocked again, but this time he hardly twitched. Boq was losing his strength. We were running out of time.

"I got it!" Hunk exclaimed suddenly. Without further hesitation, he disconnected the red wire then the blue wire, then the green, then yellow, and finally, the black. Boq went limp in his chains. Fiyero then went to work on Boq's cuffs. I looked at Boq, and pressed my hand on the side of his cheek.

"Boq, it's me, Dorothy! We're here to get you out of here! Everything's going to be ok!"

"I don't think so," Hunk said slowly.

I turned around. Even Fiyero paused to see what Hunk had to say. Hunk was holding a folder containg all sorts of sketches and diagrams of . . . Boq.

Hunk held it up for us to see. "Do you know what this is? An entire blueprint of how Boq is constructed, every detail down to the last bit. A tin man is almost impossible to destroy. And if Morrible has these blueprints . . ."

"She'll create an entire army made of tin soldiers, and she'll be unstoppable," Fiyero said, horror covering his face. "Hunk, we need to destroy those!"

"I doubt these are the only copies," Hunk said worriedly.

A sudden commotion made me jump, and we turned around to see Boq flailing like mad against the steel table, thrashing around like he had a hundred megawatts zap through him. Fiyero freed him from the cuffs, but he still spasmed like crazy.

"What the hell's going on?!" Fiyero cried, trying to hold Boq down.

"We need to get him oout of here! He's in bad shape and we need to fix him, pronto, or he's _hasta la vista_!" Hunk said.

Fiyero grabbed one of Boq's arms and slung it over his shouder, and Hunk did the same with Boq's other arm. We half-carried, half-dragged Boq down the prison corridors as fast as we possibly could. Boq's heels shrieked painfully against the stone floor, but that was the least of our worries.

Boq was dying.

* * *

Glinda's eyes slowly fluttered open. She felt groggy and stiff, yet surprisingly refreshed. She felt full of energy, as if she had never been rotting away in prison since God knows when. She squinted against the flood of light, and against the light she saw a slihouette. As her eyes began to focus, she realized that the person standing over her had green skin.

Wait . . . the only person she ever knew that had green skin was-

"Elphie?" she whispered.

She nodded.

Glinda opened her eyes widely, staring up at her old friend. This couldn't be possible! Elphaba was dead! That meant only one thing.

"Oh, sweet Oz! I'm dead!" Glinda screamed. "Oh, how shameful to rot away in a prison and die in my sleep! I can never forgive myself for being such a fool! I can't be dead! I still have things I want to do!! I'm not even married, for Lurlema's sake!"

"Glinda-" Elphaba began, but was cut off abruptly when Glinda started ranting again.

"I can't die! Everyone's counting on me to raise their spirits and bring hope back to Oz! Oh, but I suppose that'll never happen now! Everyone's dead! You, Fiyero, Nessa, probably even Boq, and soon Dorothy and her friend will be dead as well-"

"GLINDA!" Elphaba shouted. Glinda fell silent, startled at Elphaba's sudden outburst. "You're not dead!"

The words slowly sunk in. Glinda was having a hard time understanding. "But . . . you . . . I . . . _but you were killed_! Years ago! When Dorothy came!"

Elphaba shook her head. "No. I faked my death." Elphaba's face softened and she took Glindas hands in hers. "Glinda, I'm so sorry. I wish I could tell you, but-"

Glinda was stunned. She wasn't the least bit angry at her. If anything, Glinda could understand perfectly well why Elphaba would do something like that. Glinda's eyes brimmed with tears of joy. she leapt off the bed she was resting on and embraced her best friend.

"Oh, Elphie! You're alive!" she cried. "You have no idea how glad I am to see you!" Elphaba was rigid underneath Glinda's embrace, and she awkwardly patted her back. "I'm so happy you're alive!" Then Glinda grew concerned. "What about the others? We need to save Tin Man, Osio, and Dorothy and her friend!"

"Fiyero's getting them."

Glinda's jaw dropped. "Fiyero's alive as well?!"

Elphaba's attention turned towards te door as she heard someone screaming and shouting outside. Glinda looked to the door as well.

"What's going on?" Glinda whispered fearfully. Elphaba only shook her head.

The door burst open, and into the room came Dorothy and Tin Man who was carried by Dorothy's friend and . . . the Scarecrow!

"He's alive, too?!" Glinda shrieked. "But where's Fiyero?"

"Right here," the Scarecrow said.

Glinda stared at him. "No. You can't be him! You're . . . you're-" But it was. How could she not see it now? How could she ever forget his eyes? Glinda gasped in horror. Fiyero was the Scarecrow all along!

"I really hate to break up this touching reunion, but in case you guys haven't noticed, HE'S DYING!!" Hunk screamed.

Glinda jumped away as Hunk and the Scarecrow placed Tin Man on the bed. Hunk took out some diagrams, and studied them closely.

"Hunk, what are you doing?" Dorothy asked impatiently.

"I'm tryinng to figure out how Boq works so I can fix him!" Hunk said with equal impatience.

Wait a minute . . .

"What did you say?" Glinda whispered.

There was a ringing slence as all eyes turned on Glinda. Everyone exchanged worried glances. Then, an eerie screeching broke the silence, and everyone turned back toward Tin Man.

"No," he whispered faintly, creaking with rust. "I . . . will . . . t-t-tell her."

Glinda clambered to his side and kneeled at the foot of the bed. Tin Man raised his rust-coated hand shakily, and Glinda took it in both of hers. Tin Man's eyes opened slightly, and Glinda could see his silvery eyes were full of pain.

"What is it?" she whispered, gripping his metal hand tightly. "What did you want to tell me?"

"My . . . name."

Glinda sat siletly, and leaned closer to hear him.

"I . . . have been meaning . . . to t-t-tell you . . . who I am . . . for a . . . long t-time. I . . . c-c-could never b-before s-s-s-summon the courage . . . to."

"Why?" she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks.

"I was afraid . . . you would . . . reject me."

"No," Glinda said. "You're the kindest person I've ever met! I would never reject you!"

"You . . . rejected me . . . once before."

The words struck her heart like a death kell. Who was he?!

"I have . . . . always loved you. But you . . . never loved . . . me." He started jerking violently again, twitching and convulsing wildly. Glinda held his hand tighter. Her mind reeled to try and understand what he was telling her. Faces flashed before her mind, but still, she could not think of anyone who might be him.

Hunk stepped forward. "He's dying! We need to get him fixed! Now!!"

"Wait!" Tin Man gasped. With a considerable effort, he turned to look back at Glinda. "My name . . ."

"What?"

" . . . is Boq."

His hand slipped from hers as his grip slackened and his entire body went limp. Glinda rose to her feet slowly, tears streaming down her eyes. Panic ensued around her as everyone rushed around Boq to try and revive him, but in her mind there was only her and him.

Oh, dear God . . . all along, after how badly she had treated him when they were students, he still came back to her, protected her, fought for her, and now he was willing to die for her.

She didn't deserve this. None of this.

Glinda collapsed against the stone floor and started to cry.

* * *

**Oh noes! Another cliffhanger! E-gad! Will Boq live??**

**(evil laugh)**

* * *


	7. Save our Tin Man!

**Aha, um, this was a very complicated chapter to write, so don't be shy to ask any questions you may have. You still have that image of a robot-like Tin Man, right? Good. 'Cause you're going to need it. **

**So what if this chapter is complicated and incredibly nerdy! I love robots and I'm going into engineering! Give me a break! XP**

**--**

"He's going into shock!" Hunk yelled.

Boq continued to spasm wildly on the bed. Fiyero and Hunk each grabbed an arm and tried to hold him down, and I flung myself on top of him, trying to hold him down, but he bucked me off like a wild stallion.

"Do you have a generator or a substation?!" Hunk asked Fiyero loudly.

Fiyero furrowed his brow. "What for?" Hunk just glared at him, and Fiyero quickly said, "No, not in the barracks."

"Shit!"

"Wait!" Elphaba said suddenly. "There's an abandoned factory not far from here! It may have a generator!"

"It'l have to do." He turned to Fiyero. "Take us to it!"

Wordlessly, Elphaba magicked the bed into a stretcher with a wave of her hands and a flurry of words. I grabbed one end with Hunk and Fiyero carried the other end. Elphaba stayed behind to comfort the stunned Glinda. It must be hard for her to find out the truth after so long, but I had to push my pity for her out of my mind. Because right now we had a much bigger problem.

Fiyero lead the way, down through the barracks' corridors, which were carved straight into the earth. The barracks were actually a large network of underground tunnels and huge stony rooms. We raced past hundreds of people as well as Animals, some refugees, others looked like soldiers. They all stared at us as we raced past, leaving a wake of murmurs of confusion behind us.

"Why do we need a generator?" I asked Hunk as we sped down the tunnes.

"From what I've seen from the blueprints, Boq works just like a human does. In his chest there's a generator, just like a human heart, that sends pulses of electricity throughout his body, powering him and such. Just like how the circulatory system works." Hunk said quickly.

"So he did have a heart all along," Fiyero muttered to himself.

"But, those scientists we saw in the jail cell were interfering with his 'heart's' pulse of electricity, making the beats irregular and screwing the crap out of his power cell. They were sending pulses of electricity through him at the wrong time, which badly damaged his circuits and wires inside his body. What's happening now is that his 'heart' is confused, and sending out electric pulses at irregular intervals, which is making him seize up. What we have to do is stop the pulses of electricity and get his 'heart' to pulse regularly again. To do that, we need a generator or a very powerful battery."

"Are you saying that you're going to stop his electric pulse and then try to start it back up again?!" I asked. 'Won't that kill him?!"

"Not if I can do it right the first time." Hunk said.

"And if you don't?" Fiyero said with a glance over his shoulder.

Hunk remaned silent. But he didn't need to say anything.

We reached the end of one of the tunnels and burst through the exit that lead straight into the depths of a thick forest. We battled our way through the underbrush and soon we came upon a clearing, and in the middle of the clearing was a large building with towers and tall smoke stacks and large windows, which were all broken. Vines creeped up the concrete walls, and power lines were draped to one of the building's towers.

Hunk took one look at it and frowned, but he didn't say anything. The door into the factory was hanging on a single rusty hinge, and inside cobwebs covered the ceiling and dust was thick on the floor, and it was empty.

Except for an enormous circular power cell with caution stickers all around it.

Hunk smiled. "That's exactly what we're looking for! Now try and find a table to put him on!"

I found an old rusty metal table with wheels on the bottom of the legs, and we placed Boq on it. Hunk then found some bungee cords and strapped him to the tabe.

"We can't have him jerking around for this," he explained quickly. "Fiyero, I need you to find some jumper cables."

"Jumper what?"

"Chords! Wires with clamps at the end! Jesus Christ, don't you guys have any _cars_ here?!"

Fiyero rolled his eyes and bolted off into the factory to look for some wires.

"Hunk, they don't have cars in Oz," I said to him when Fiyero left.

"Oh," Hunk said, flushing with embarassment. "I did not know that."

On the table was also a screwdriver and a crowbar along with nails, screws, bolts, and washers. Hunk picked uo the screwdriver and tried to unscrew the screws in Boq's chest.

"Hunk, what the hell are you doing?!" I asked, horrified.

"We need to remove the metal plating covering his power cell to fix his electric pulse." Hunk said, not taking his eyes off what he was doing. "The tin plating covering him is just a protective coating. It's not going to hurt him. Besides, this metal is so badly rusted I doubt we can fix it. Now grab that crowbar and help me out."

I reluctanty picked up the crowbar and tried to pry the rusted chest plating off, but the screws were stubbornly rusted into place and wouldn't budge.

"Well, there's always plan B," Hunk said.

"What's plan B?"

"Chainsaw!"

"Please tell me you're joking."

But he wasn't. Under the table was a small chainsaw that you could hold with one hand. Surprisingly, it looked like it was in good shape.

"Hunk, this place has been abandoned for years. I doubt-"

Hunk pulled the draw string and the chainsaw roared to life. With a smug look on his face, he started to carefully carve out the chest pate where it was connected to the rest of his body. The chainsaw ccut through the rusted tin cleanly and smoothly, and soon we were able to pull it off.

"What the _hell_ are you doing?!"

I jumped about a foot in the air and turned around. Standing behind us was Fiyero, holding an armful of wires and a disgusted look on his face. Hunk was looking guiltily back and forth between Fiyero, the chainsaw in his hands, and Boq's exposed chest.

"Um . . . operaton?" Hunk said uneasily.

Fiyero just continued to stare at us. "Operation or decapitation?" he growled as he put the wires down next to Boq. He then looked down at Boq. "Dear Lurlema, what . . . is that . . ."

I looked down as well. After Hunk removed the tin plating on Boq's chest, I saw everything inside. It was as if I was looking at something straight out of a science fiction movie. On the left side of his chest was a thick circular disk that was glowing brightly with wires connected all around its edge.

"That would be his power cell," Hunk said. "Now for the moment of truth."

He took one of the wires and hooked it up to one side of the disk. Suddenly, the disk glowed even brighter and Hunk jumped and dropped the wire.

"Christ!" he swore.

"What happened?" I asked frantically.

"He shocked me!" Hunk said angrily. "Jesus, I can't feel my hands!" He rubbed his hand and flexed them. "Fiyero, you're going to have to do this. Listen carefully and do exactly what I say, alright?"

Fiyero nodded. "Alright. But do you know what you're doing?"

"I'm pretty sure I know what I'm doing."

_"Pretty sure?!"_

"We don't have time to argue!" Hunk said exasperately. "Now grab the other end of the wire and follow me."

They walked up to the generator and after a minute or so of examining it, they found a couple of starters. Fiyero connected the wires from the starters to the power cell in Boq's chest. Hunk then adjusted the controls on the generator.

"Now, if the blueprints are correct, which they most likely shoud be, a good 13,000 volts should do it. It'll stop the pulse without completely frying him. Then we need to wait about two minutes before we start him back up. When we do, we need to give him about 6,000 volts."

"Jesus, 13,000 volts would kill anyone," I whispered.

"Good thing for us, Boq isn't made of flesh and blood," Hunk said. "Now, when I tell you to Fiyero, turn the generator on."

"Got it."

"Now!"

Fiyero slammed his hand down on the switch and the generator sputtered to life, whirring noisily. Hunk carefully made some final adjustments with the wires and then ran over to the generator and flipped some switches. Hunk took a few deep breaths, then pulled a lever.

An electric buzz filled the factory and Boq jerked wildy against the table. He arched his back and actually snapped one of the bungee chords holding him down. Then the buzz stopped, and Boq went deathly still. The power cell in his chest then slowly dimmed and died.

"Now we wait," Hunk said nervously. After he adjusted the controls on the generator again, I stood by Boq's side with Hunk. Fiyero was on the opposite side of the table.

"Hunk, how did you know what to do?" I asked. "It's like you've done this a hundred times."

"I went to school, too," he joked. "And I took some mechanical classes. And I was the one Henry always went to when the tractor broke down."

"Hunk, that was a _tractor_. This is something a hundred times more complex."

"Not really. One thing they teach you in mechanics is that it's always much simpler than it looks."

"I hope you're right," Fiyero said suddenly.

There was an overwhelming and uncomfortable silence. No one spoke agian until Hunk finally told us that it was time to try and revive him.

Before he did, Fiyero put a hand on his shoulder. "Hunk, I hope to the Unnamed God you're right," he said, his voice full of pain and worry. "I don't want to lose anyone else."

"I'm doing everything I can," Hunk said reassuringly.

Fiyero silently studied Hunk for a moment. "What are the chances that he's going to make it? Be honest with me."

Hunk was quiet for a while, but he was clearly worried.

"Hunk, answer me," Fiyero said sternly.

"He has about twenty-five percent chance of surviving," Hunk said in a voice hardy louder than a whisper. "I know the odds don't sound good, but this is our only chance."

Fiyero paced for a bit with his hands on his head. "Damn it," he whipered. "So you're saying it's more than likely that he will end up dead?"

Hunk was silent for a while more. "Yes."

"Damn it!"

Hunk just shook his head. "Well, we either do this and take the chance, or we do nothing, and he dies."

Fiyero leaned on the table's edge and just stared down at Boq, his face a mix of anger, worry, and unease. "Then I guess we don't exactly hve much of a choice now, do we?" he said. It was more than apparent that he wasn't the least bit comfortable with this. No one was. Not even Hunk.

"Let's do this." Hunk started the generator back up again, and Fiyero stood by the switches, ready to turn them on again. Hunk stood over Boq, making sure everything was looking good. "Alright, Fiyero, ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

"Ok, start praying to God," Hunk said with a small laugh.

"On it," Fiyero joked back.

Hunk took a deep breath. "Pull it."

Fiyero pulled the power lever and 6,000 volts flooded Boq's body and through the power cell. The cell flickered feebily, but the cell did not substain the power.

"Again!"

Fiyero pulled the lever yet again and Boq was again bolted with electricity. The power cell glowed more brightly this time, but again, it did not stabilize.

"Damn it, Boq, stay with us!" Hunk yelled. "Pull it again!"

Fiyero did so, but he was worried. "How much of this can he take?!"

Hunk didn't answer immediately. When the third attempt to revive Boq failed, he looked up at Fiyero with a very troubled expression. "We only have one more shot. If we try one more time, we'll fry him and nothing short of a miracle will bring him back."

Fiyero hung his head, and banged it against the generator. "Shit."

"What's wrong?" a woman's voice said suddenly.

We all turned around. Elphaba and Glinda had arrived, and were standing only a few feet behind us.

"Good god, you have green skin!" Hunk said, clearly shocked and stunned by Elphaa's appearance.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow. "You didn't noitce when you burst into the barracks carrying him?" she said, nodding towards Boq.

"I had other concerns," Hunk said in his defense. "Well, uh, sorry, I'm being rude."

"Don't worry, people usually don't apologize for staring at me," she said with a wave of her hands.

"But what's wrong?" Glinda said urgently.

Hunk drew his attention away from Elphaba to Glinda. "Um . . . it's complicated," he said uneasily. "But . . . his odds of surviving have just dropped to below four percent."

"Oh Oz," Glinda whispered tearfully, her hand clamped over her mouth. "Please tell me . . . that can't be right! He's . . . he can't die!"

Hunk just looked at her sadly. "Unfortunately . . . he can."

Glinda rushed to Boq's side and grabbed his hand. "Oh, please Boq! Don't die! I can't have you die on me! Don't you dare leave me here on my own!" Tears were streaming down her cheeks. "Stay with me!"

"Glinda, you have to back up. We're going to attempt to revive him one last time," Hunk said calmly.

"What do you mean one last time?" Glinda said worriedly.

"If we can't revive him this time, then he will . . . die." Hunk said carefully.

"Way to put it gently." Elphaba said sarcastically.

"Oh god!" Glinda said. "Can we do anything to help?"

"Just sit here and pray," I said quietly. "That's all I've been doing."

Glinda took a step back away from Boq, and Fiyero flipped the switch one last time. The power cell glowed and flickered. It looked like it was going to be abe to sustain power.

"Come on Boq, hang in there," Fiyero whispered.

The cell went dead.

"SHIT!"

"No, damn it! Don't you dare die, you son of a bitch!" Hunk yelled.

Glinda was in tears. She rushed to Boq's side again, but now she looked more focused. She put her hand over Boq's power cell and started murmuring in the same strange language Elphaba spoke in the barracks. Glinda's hand then began to glow a bright reddish color, and the light then seeped from her hand into the power cell.

Hunk furrowed his brow. "What are you doing?"

"Quiet, she needs to concentrate." Elphaba said in a harsh whisper.

Suddenly, the power cell exploded with light, and sent a pulse of electricity through Boq. He twitched again, and his eye open and gasped.

"He's stabilizing!" Hunk said. "He's going to make it!"

I cried out with joy and hugged Hunk tightly. He hugged me back, and his eyes were wet with tears of relief and frantically thanking God that he was able to pull through. Glinda clasped Boq's face in her hands and started kissing Boq's face. Boq was completely awake and alert, and looked like he was in shock to see Glinda standing over him, and kissing him, nonetheless.

"I . . . I thought you didn't like me." Boq said shakily.

Glinda smiled through her tears. "How can I not like someone as caring and sweet as you?"

Boq smiled. "Thanks," he whispered.

Fiyero went up to Boq and put one hand on his shouder.

"Don't you ever do that again, you son of a bitch!" Fiyero said, laughing. "Good God, I thought you were going to die!"

Boq just stared at Fiyero. "You're alive?! But how?!"

Fiyero smiled. "I faked my death so I coud be with Elphaba."

"Elphaba's alive too?!"

"Of course! Did you actually think a bucket of water could kill _her_?"

"Well . . . yes. But it looked so real! And you shot her!"

There was a sudden silence.

_"You shot her?!"_ Glinda screeched.

Fiyero was obviously uneasy. "Glinda, I didn't-"

"No! You have a lot to explain!" Glinda said angrily. "What has been going on?!"

"And what the heck did you do to me?" Boq said, looking down at his exposed chest. "Oh, Lurlema, I think I'm gonna be sick."

Fiyero put up his hands. "Alright, I know this is all a really confusng moment. I don't know. But, to summarize, when Elphaba turned me into a scarecrow to save my life, I forgot everything. I had no recollection of anything that happened before."

"Except when you had those visions," Boq reminded.

Fiyero sighed. "Yes. But anyway, when the Wizard told us to kill Elphaba . . . I did so because I didn't know that she wasn't the 'Wicked Witch' everyone claimed her to be! And . . . yes, I did shoot her. And when the wizard gave me back my memories, I then remembered everything, but I also at first believed that she really was dead. But I realized later that she wasn't dead. The only option for me then was to fake my death and find Elphaba and go into hiding."

"But why now? Why expose yourself at this moment?" Glinda asked. "By now, Morrible would have found out that we're gone and she'll start looking for us!"

"For a few reasons, actually. For one, we are close to preparing a formidabe army to overthrow Morribe, and also because Dorothy and Hunk were imprisoned."

"But you forget one thing," Hunk spoke out. "Morrible has _these_." He pulled out the blueprints of Boq.

Boq grabbed the papers and stared at them. His eyes widened in horror. "That _bitch_! I knew she was zapping the crap out of me, but she dissected me like a fucking lab rat?!" He shook his head. "With these, she can make an entire army of tin soldiers!"

"Well, that won't be much of a problem now," Elphaba said. "Just bring on the rain and they'll rust in no time."

"But Morrible is an expert with weather magic." Glinda said with concern.

Elphaba's face fell. "Oh, damn, that's right."

"We can think about all this later," Hunk said. "Right now, we need to finish fixing Boq."

"How are you going to do that?" Fiyero asked.

"We need to take off all the rusted metal and replace it. Preferably with steel."

Fiyero nodded. "Any particular reason why you want to use steel?"

"Well, it doesn't rust, it's stronger, a little bit lighter, and there's tons of it rigt here." Hunk said. "Let's split up and look for some decent scrap metal to use. Not you, Boq, you just lay down for a bit and chill."

Boq, who was already sitting up, laid back down on the table with a nod.

"I'm going to stay here," Glinda said, her eyes on Boq.

I smiled, and I exchanged glances with everyone else, and we left Glinda and Boq alone. Elphaba stood next to Fiyero and took his hand, and Fiyero gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank god he's alive," Elphaba said. "I guess I have you to thank, Hunk,"

"Don't thank me, it was all Glinda," he said. "She was the one who magicked him back to life."

"Yeah, but you knew what to do. He would be gone if you weren't there," I interjected.

Hunk just smiled. "Well, I don't want to brag . . ."

We laughed quietly. As we searched the factory for metal, I just continued to think about what had just had happened.

"I was so scared. I thought he was goig to die," I said, mostly to myself. "My hands are still shaking."

Hunk wrapped an arm around my shoulder. "It's alright. Everything's going to be ok now. He's fine, and soon we'll have him up and running even better than before."

He then opened a door that lead into a large room. The light was dim, but I could see that the room was full of sheets of steel, in relatively good condition.

"Jackpot!" Hunk said happily. He picked up a small piece of steel, about a quarter inch thick, two feet long and about a foot wide. He looked at it carefully, examining it for defects. Hunk then grinned. "This will be perfect! Help me get some scraps and let's see what we can do with them."

We spent the next half-hour rummaging through the room looking for any steel pieces that appeared to be in good shape with minimal defects and the right thickness. When we found about thirty or fourty pieces of various sizes, we began to carry them back into the main room where Boq and Glinda were. When we got there, Boq was still sitting on the table, but Glinda was sound asleep, her head resting in Boq's lap.

"Is she ok?" Fiyero asked.

Boq nodded. "She's fine. She told me that the spell she performed on me took a lot out of her. She passed out a bit ago." He then tried to roll his shoulders, but his joints started to creak and screech noisily. He groaned.

"I guess I'm in a lot worse shape than I thought," he said sourly. "I could barely sit up."

"We'll get you fixed up in no time," Hunk said, dropping the steel he was carrying on the ground.

"But . . . I am curious," Elphaba said. "Glinda wasn't much of a witch when we went to school, and she certainly wasn't very talented in magic. How in the world did she successfully perform such a powerful spell?"

Boq laughed with a slight wheeze. "You're wrong about her not being talented in magic. When you 'melted,' something just suddenly clicked and she was off reading the Grimmerie like it was written in plain English. She's a remarkable healer. I've seen people come to her that were near death and she was able to heal them as good as new in no time flat. I'm not surprised she was able to fix _me_ as well." He looked down at Glinda and ran a shaky, rusted hand through her hair. "I owe her my life."

Fiyero turned around at the sound of rustling feathers. A crow was flying towards us. I recognized it as the same crow I saw in the mountain past. And, to my shock, it landed right on Fiyero's shoulder.

"Sir, Osio has awakened, and I am pleased to say that he is recovering very quickly," the crow said.

"Wait, you're a Crow!" I said. "You're the same Crow I saw in the mountain pass!"

Fiyero smiled. "Oh, so you've already met Teriom?" he said.

"Not really," I said.

"Teriom is my messenger Bird, and my faithful scout," Fiyero said proudly, then smiled. "Kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"Why is a Crow your messenger Bird?" Hunk asked. "Or did you just choose a Crow for the irony joke?"

"Tradition goes that every royal member of the Vinkus chooses a messenger Bird, just to keep in touch with others and whatnot. A while back, before I even met Elphaba, I decided a Crow would be the best choice for a messenger Bird, because Crows are more stealthy and secretive, since they are very common. My father had a large Harpy Eagle for his messenger. Now how inconspicuous would that be if you're trying to send top-secret information?"

"It's not," I said.

"Exactly. Crows, on the other hand, are much more inconspicuous. Plus, they're extremey intelligent."

"I'm flattered," Teriom said.

"Well, aren't you afraid of him since he's a scare_crow_?" I asked Teriom.

Teriom laughed. "Despite what his name implies, he's not the least bit frightening!"

"Thanks for the support," Fiyero said sarcastically.

"Besides, I'm under oath to remain loyal to my master, no matter what happens." Teriom said.

"Thanks for the information. Let's head back to the barracks, get Osio, and finish fixing up Boq." Fiyero said dutifully.

We placed all the steel on the table with Boq still on it, and after waking Glinda, we made our way back outside the factory and through the forest. Teriom flew ahead of us for a while, but when we reached the barrack's entrance, Teriom showed up again.

"He's coming!" was the only thing he said before he flew off into the safety of the trees.

Immediately, Fiyero stopped us and pulled out his sword. "Stay down, and don't move," he said urgently. With the stealth of a cat, he ran off into the woods and disappeared in an instant.

"What the hell's going on?" Hunk whispered hoarsely. I just shook my head. I looked back at Elphaba and Glinda, but they were as lost as we were.

Then, I heard footsteps coming closer and closer. The soft snap of twigs and brush sounded as loud as fireworks, and I held my breath. Then I saw who was causing the noise.

It was Ferior!

"What's he doing here?! Where did he come from?!" I asked myself urgently. "Oh, God, if he finds us, we're dead!"

Suddenly, I saw Fiyero come up from behind him. In an instant, Fiyero clamped his hand over Ferior's mouth and had his sword pressed against the back of his neck. Ferior was panicked, but didn't dare to move.

"How's it going, Ferior?" Fiyero asked casually. "Long time, no see, huh?"

_"What?!"_ I said quietly. Glinda and Hunk were both confused, but Elphaba was_ smiling._

Ferior relaxed and sighed with relief. Fiyero let him go and Ferior just stood there, laughing.

"Good God, Fiyero, you son of a bitch, you scared the crap out of me!"

"WHAT?!"


	8. Life Lessons

"What the hell?!" Hunk yelled, bursting up from hiding. Fereior and Fiyero both looked at him. "What's going on here?! Fiyero, he's a Gale Force guard!! He's one of _them_!! He's the bastard who tried to kill us!"

Ferior and Fiyero both exchanged glances, and then burst out laughing. They obviously knew something we didn't, and they were getting a kick out of it.

"What's so funny?" Boq demanded.

Fiyero stopped laughing, and smiled at us, putting a gloved hand on Ferior's shoulder. "This is Ferior, and he's our mole! There's no one who knows the prisons better, not even me. He was the one that was helping us escape. Haven't you noticed that there were hardly any guards around when I broke you out? That was all Ferior."

Ferior saluted dutifully. "It really wasn't a problem. But, well, as you might have guessed, Morribe found out that you guys are gone and she's royally pissed."

"I can imagine," Hunk said. "But, how do you two know each other?"

"We go way back, when we were just teenagers. We were great friends, and we were in the same squadron when I was in the Gale Force," Fiyero said. "And he's been helping me free the innocent prisoners. Most of our numbers are comprised of people that Ferior helped release."

"But . . . supposedly you died," I pointed out. "How did he know you were still alive?"

"I saw Teriom, and he told me that Fiyero was still alive," Ferior said. "I could recognize Fiyero's messenger Bird a mile away. Of course, at first I had no idea that he was a scarecrow. I only found that out about a month or so ago, when we finally met face-to-face. Before, we would only communicate via messenger Birds and encripted letters." He then laughed. "Kind of ironic his messenger's a Crow, isn't it?"

"We've noticed," Boq said testily.

"How did you guys not get caught by Morrible?" Glinda asked in bewilderment.

Ferior smiled mischieviously. "I'm way under Morrible's radar. She thinks I don't have the guts to try anything under her nose. That's one of her weaknesses; she greatly underestimates her enemies."

"And now we're planning to break in again and rescue his family," Fiyero said.

I turned towards him. "So what you said to me in the jail cell, it was all true?"

Ferior smiled and nodded. "If anything, taking my family hostage only provoked me to help Fiyero even more."

I thought for a long time, then turned towards Fiyero. "Who else knows?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" he said.

"Who else knows all this? Who else knows that you're Fiyero, that Elphaba's alive, that Ferior's on _our_ side?" I asked.

"Well, for the most part, us seven are the only ones that know the whole thing. The rest of the Animals just think I'm a scarecrow that had an epiphany when I had my memory restored. For the time being, we're going to run with that. From now on, I'm just Captain Scarecrow, or just Scarecrow. Everyone else in the barracks knows that Elphaba's alive and Ferior's with us. But don't worry; the Animas trust Elphaba. She fought for their rights, and they're all willing to fight with us to stop Morrible. Most of the Animals, if not all of them, have a personal score to settle with her also."

"I'm going to get so confusified," Glinda sighed, shaking her head. "I still don't know who to really trust!"

"You can trust everyone in the barracks," Elphaba reassured. "We've made sure of that."

Ferior then looked at Boq. "So, what's your story?" he asked.

"Oh, the usual, just was cursed to live in a tin body and Morribe decided to electrocute the shit out of me and dissect me, not to mention the fact that I almost DIED," Boq said hotly. "But other than the fact that I can barely move I'm so badly rusted, I'm just fine."

"No need to get so sensitive," Ferior said with a roll of his eyes.

"Chill out, Tin Can, we're going to fix you," Hunk said impatiently.

"How are you going to do that?" Boq said. "I don't suppose you're also secretly a welder?"

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck. "To tell you the truth . . . you're right, I'm not. But I'm sure we can find a good mechanic or something."

"Riiiiiight," Boq said sarcastically.

"Hey, I know a guy!" Ferior said excitedly. "He mentioned that he was working on some sort of top-secret project for Morribe and he was one of the engineers assigned to the job. He's one of the best mechanics in Oz. I'm sure he can help us."

"Is he trustworthy?" Fiyero asked.

"To be honest, no, but I'm sure we can think of a way for him to fix your tin friend without him knowing who he really is."

"This top-secret project you mentioned, what is it?" Hunk asked urgently.

Ferior thought for a moment. "I'm not a hundred percent sure. But . . . it sounds like Morrible's attempting to make an army of tic-toks. But that's absurd. There aren't any tic-toks advanced enough to fight . . ." he trailed off, and looked right at Boq. "Unless . . ."

"Unless the designs for building them were based off of me?" Boq finished.

Hunk nodded. "We found a copy of the blueprints Morrible made of Boq. I'm positive that's what she's doing right now."

Ferior's face lit up, the exact opposite of what I felt like doing. "I know how to get your friend repaired! We can pretend he was one of the first prototypes, but there was an accident and he was rusted! And we just need to replace the metal to fix him."

"It sounds like an alright plan," Fiyero said thoughtfully. "Are you up to it? Can you do it?"

Ferior saluted. "It'll be a piece of cake! I'll get him fixed in no time!" He then grabbed the table Boq was laying on and started to push it back to his post. "Oh, I forgot to ask, do you have a name?"

"It's Boq," he said distantly.

"Boq the tic-tok! Ha, that rhymes!"

"When I can move again, I'm going to punch you."

"Gee, what crawled up your ass and died?"

* * *

"Are you sure you can trust him?" I asked as I watched Ferior push Boq away.

"I'm positive," Fiyero reassured. Without anything else to say, we went inside the barracks, and into the room where Osio was. Even though his time in prison was more than apparent in the marks and scars covering his body, Osio still had a strong and orderly aurora. If anything, it made him look more vicious . . . and a whole lot older than I rememer him being. Several Animals surrounded him, and he was talking to them, and all the Animals were listening intently to what he was saying.

"Morrible is a beaurecratic woman who feasts and thrives off of power. She is like a mighty waterfall; unstoppable to any who happen to be downstream and are hit with the full force of the waterfall's fury. But, if you were to build a dam upstream and stop the current, the waterfall will be no more."

"When did Osio become a philosopher?" I asked, amazed at his wisdom and deep thoughts.

All the Animals turned around and looked at us, and Osio's eyes lit up when he saw us. "Dorothy! You're alright!" He leapt to his feet and bounded to my side, and I threw his arms around his fuzzy mane. He put a paw on my back, and was nuzzling my shoulder. "Oh, I was so worried! I'm glad you're ok!"

"I'm glad to see you're back up on your feet!" I retorted.

He smiled. "I'm not one to give in so easily."

"I can believe that."

He then turned towards the others, and gaped when he saw Fiyero. "So it is true, you're still alive," he said, amazed. He shook his head. "I didn't believe it at first! I couldn't! I mean, for the love of Lurlema, we saw the flaming crucifix!"

"I'm sorry," he said heartfully. "But I had no choice."

Osio only shook his head. "Well, what's done is done. And . . . where is our tin friend?"

"He was in desperate need of repairs, and he's going to get fixed," Hunk said.

Osio looked at him. "I don't believe we've met. What is your name?"

"You can just call me Hunk," he said.

"And I am Osio."

"Pleased to meet you, Simba," Hunk said with a laugh.

"No, it's Osio. Are you partially deaf?" he asked inquisitively.

"It's just a joke," I explained quickly. "Hunk, they don't know anything about Disney here, either! Honestly."

"Sorr-y," he said.

The rest of the Animas dispersed, giving small bows to their king before leaving. Osio nodded to each of them in turn. When they all left, Osio sat down on his hind legs and just glared at us, silently demanding explanation.

Fiyero told hm everything, from him faking his death to him rescuing us with Ferior's hep. Osio did not interrupt throughout the story. He listened carefully, nodding now and then. After we told him what happened, he didn't say anything for a while.

"Now what do we do?" he asked.

"We actually need your help to round up a few more Animals. Teriom has reported some small gatherings of some large Animals not far from here. If you were to show up and let them see that you're still alive and kicking, you can rally them up and they can join us for war." Fiyero said.

"But I'm supposed to be in jail," Osio reminded. "If I'm seen out in the open, the guards will be sure to get wind of us and find us."

"Not to worry, we'll keep everything as secretive as possible. And if you don't want to appear in person, we can have Hurontu be your ambassador."

Osio thought this over for a long time. "We can make it work," he finally said quietly. "But we should do it at night, when my vision is best and the guards can't see as well."

"Understood."

Glinda then rushed up to Osio. "Oh, those scars look terrible! Come on, I'm going to heal those up straight away!"

Osio looked rather bashful about this. "You really don't have to . . ."

"I insist!" Glinda then forced him to lay down on his back and ran her hands over the wounds. She recited a short spell, and her hands started to glow brightly. She then touched each of the scars, and they vanished in an instant, leaving Osio almost completely scar-free. The only scar remaining was a small one he had over his right eye.

"I don't want to attempt healing that one," she explained hesitantly. "I could end up blinding you! I hope you don't mind . . ."

"Not at all," Osio said. "Thank you, Lady Glinda."

She then turned to Hunk. "I should heal you up as well. Let me see." She grasped Hunks wrists and carefully scanned his arms, twisting them over to see the ones underneath as well. "This will be easy. They're newer ones, and they're more simple to heal." She then murmured the same short spell she recited for Osio. Hunk's arms then began to glow a soft yellow, and when the light faded, his arms were completely healed and not a trace of the scars remained.

"Aw, I thought the scars made me look like a bad-ass," Hunk said in a jokingly dissappointed tone.

Glinda huffed angrily. "Well, if you didn't want me to heal those scars, you could have said so!" she cried angrily.

"I was just joking!" Hunk said quickly. "I didn't mean it. I'm sorry. I'm . . . I'm glad that you could help me."

Glinda's anger faded quickly and she smiled sheepishly. "Well, it was the least I could do. I mean, you did save Boq."

"No, girl, that was all you. You did all the hard work," Hunk said modestly.

"I must admit, he's right," Elphaba said suddenly. "You're quite the healer. I must say, I'm very impressed by how much your magical skills have improved."

Glinda turned to her and she blushed. "Oh, it was a simple spell-"

"Glinda, don't be so modest," Elphaba said earnestly. "I know spells; the one you performed on Boq was an extremely powerful one. In fact, if my guesses are correct on which spell that was, I would hardly dare attempting the same spell."

"Boq was dying, what choice did I have?" she said quietly.

Elphaba nodded slowly and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence before once again Elphaba spoke up.

"You all must be exhausted. I'll show you to your rooms, and you can get some rest while I go and get you something to eat." She lead us back into the heart of the barracks through the extensive tunnels, twisting and turning like pipes. The halls were lit with small torches, illuminating the place brightly, which defied the laws of physics concerning light, at least to my knowledge. I wouldn't have been surprised if the torches were enchanted. After about five or so minutes of walking down the tunnels, we came to a large stone room, lined with doors. She assigned each of us a room to stay in, all right next to each other. The rooms were modestly furnished, with a bed, a desk, and a small wardrobe. Osio's room was the only one that didn't have any furniture, but he liked it that way. He was a Lion, after all.

Elphaba and Fiyero then left to go get us some dinner, leaving us alone in our rooms to rest. And lord, did I need it. As soon as I hit the soft matress and folded myself into the blankets, a wave of exhaustion hit me like a typhoon. I closed my eyes and driifted off to a deep and peaceful sleep.

For the time being, I felt safe in the depths of the barracks, and comforted that everyone was alright.

I was woken up a few minutes later to see Hunk sitting on the edge of my bed. He smiled down at me when he saw that I was awake.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," he said. "Speaking of which, I was just about to wake you from your slumber with a kiss!" He leaned down to me. "But what the hell, I guess I can kiss you when you're awake, too, right?"

I smiled and leaned up and kissed him on the cheek. "Of course you can."

He gently cradled the side of my face with his hand and kissed me passionately on the lips. I returned the kiss with just as much passion, and we lay there, savoring each other's company, wrapped in each other's arms. We embraced each other, my arms coiled around his neck and his strong arms wrapped around my waist, and he looked down at me with his usual warm tender smile.

"I love you so much," he said, kissing me on the cheek in between each word. "I will never, ever leave you again." His smile faded, and his expression suddenly changed to sadness and worry. "I almost lost you back there in the prisons. I swear I won't let that happen again." He hugged me tighter, bringing me closer to him. "I can't possibly live without you."

"I will never leave you, either." I promised. I kissed him once more before I drifted off to sleep again, this time with an even more sense of security than before. I had Hunk right beside me, and that to me meant everything.

"I love you so much too," I said softly. "You are my world."

* * *

Elphaba and Fiyero walked quietly together. Fiyero looked at Elphaba and smiled.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

"Oh, nothing, just admiring the most beautiful woman in the world," he said casually.

Elphaba tried to smile at the compliment, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Even after five years, guilt gripped her like a steel vice that could never be pried away. Besides, she knew he was lying to her.

"Fiyero, you don't need to lie. I know I'm not beautiful. I know you mean well, but . . . I can't be beautiful."

"And why not?" Fiyero challenged calmly.

Elphaba began to loose it. "I'm green, dammit!! How can I be beautiful if I'm _this_!" Her eyes began to sting with angry tears. "And how can you love me?! I turned you into a scarecrow, for god's sake!! Anyone else with half a brain would be out there trying to kill me for what I've done!!"

"Elphaba, hush, there's no need for this," Fiyero said quietly. "You have no idea how I truly feel about you. I _need_ you right now. You're all I have." He grabbed Elphaba and hugged her tightly, and when he rested his head on her shoulder, he could still smell the scent of her hair, even if it was from a memory. 'I have nothing but you. You are everything to me. Why do you think I was willing to die for you? I love you. And nothing you do or say will ever change that. And I think that green is the most beautiful color of all." He kissed her forehead gently, and leaned closer to kiss her lips. Everything he touched was only a sense of pressure, and he could not sense texture or warmth. It was something he greatly missed.

"But I know you're not happy as a scarecrow," Elphaba whispered.

Fiyero hesitated. "I'll give you that one; I'm not. I miss your scent, I miss the warmth of your body, I miss the softness of your lips when we kiss. But I can wait. I can wait a lifetime to be human again. Just as long as I have you."

Elphaba couldn't help a small smile escape her lips. She leaned into Fiyero and he hugged her tighter.

"I love you too, Fiyero. I guess . . . well, it's still hard for me to accept that I am loved after a lifetime of people hating my guts."

"We'll get through this, together." Fiyero said. "I'll be right here for you, always."

"I suppose I need you just as much as you need me," Elphaba said.

Fiyero smiled. "You can count on that one."

* * *

Hunk was still awake, even though Dorothy was sleeping soundly in his arms. He coud not seep. He was too worried about her well-being. He was new to this world; he still wasn't sure who to trust. But, he supposed that whoever Dorothy trusted he could as well. But, even so, all the conspiraies and double agents gave him suspicions.

Fiyero then came into the room, carrying a tray with a sandwich, a bowl of steaming soup, and a glass of water. He looked surprised to see him, but he only shook his head with a small smile.

"Did you need a moment?" he asked somewhat awkwardly.

"No," Hunk said. "She's asleep." He carefully unwrapped his arms and sat up on the edge of the bed, still looking at the sleeping Dorothy. Fiyero placed the tray of food on the table and pulled up a chair, stradling it and folding his arms on the top of the back of the chair and resting his head on the top of his arms.

"You love her, don't you?" Fiyero asked.

"Of course I do. I would die for her."

Fiyero was silent for a very long time. Hunk had a feeling he had crrossed the line into something that affected Fiyero deeply.

"Do you mean that?" Fiyero said distantly.

Hunk was quiet, unsure by what Fiyero was getting at. "Yes." he finally said.

Fiyero studied him with his sapphire eyes. "You better be sure about that."

"I am."

Fiyero smiled with a nod. "I can tell you're being honest with me. I did the same thing for the woman I love. Elphaba. I love her so much. And . . . just between you and me, when all this blows over, maybe I will ask Elphaba to marry me."

Hunk could only smile, and started chuckling to himself.

"What's so funny?"

"You know, before we got zapped to Oz, I was just about to ask Dorothy to marry me."

Fiyero's eyes went wide, and his jaw dropped, looking at Hunk with a stupefied expression. "You were going to ask Dorothy . . . to marry you?" he said, completely shocked.

Hunk nodded happily.

"Isn't she . . . kinda young to be married?"

"We've known each other for years. I have thought it over for a long time now, and I can't think of anyone else to spend the rest of my life with."

Fiyero smiled. "Well, I'm happy for both of you. She deserves someone like you. When are you going to pop the question?"

"When all of this is over." Hunk said.

They sat in silence for a while more, the rhythmic breaths from Dorothy the only sound in the room.

"Your parents must be worried that you're gone." Fiyero said suddenly.

"They're dead," Hunk said quiety.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"It's alright, I know you didn't."

"How'd they go?"

Hunk sat in silence, inhaling deeply. Fiyero watched him carefully and noted how he suddenly became very stressed.

"If you don't want to-"

"No. I do. When I was very young, my parents divorced. My dad was an alcholic and my mother was . . . mentally unstable. The judge decided I would be better off with my parent's old friend, Henry, Dorothy's uncle. Henry welcomed me on the farm, and I grew up together with Dorothy, and I worked as a farm hand. Unfortunately, we were forced to sell our farm and move into the city. When Henry and Dorothy's aunt, Emily, passed away from cancer, I stayed with her. It tore her apart, losing her aunt and uncle wthin a few months of each other. I was the only one she had." He paused before going on. "Before we moved out of the farm and into the city, there was a terribe dust storm. My father was outside, driving, when the worst of the storm hit. Buried alive. He was found dead, in his truck, holding a damn bottle of Scotch. My mother somehow escaped from the mental institute and was also caught outside and buried in the sand. And you know what was ironic about that? My father was going to visit my mother. First time since the divorce."

Fiyero lowered his head. "I have no idea what to say to that. That's awful."

"What about you?"

"My mother died shortly after I was born. Lukemia. She was very weak after she gave birth to me. Her body couldn't fight the virus."

"I'm sorry about that. What about your father?"

Fiyero stared at the floor, lost in thought, his eyes tinged with a hint of pain. "There's something you have to understand about my people. The Vinkus are very proud, and honor was everything. My father . . . was so proud of me when I became the Captain of the Guards. The youngest guard in over a hundred years. And the best swordsman in the entire Gale Force."

Hunk whistled lowly.

"And then . . . I was labeled a traitor when I helped rescue Elphaba from the Wizard. Destroyed mt reputation, my honor, everything. And it wasn't just me. It was my entire kingdom, too. That's why they were so willing to have me killed, even though I was their prince. My death would mean a clean slate, and the Vinkus reputation would remain unmarred. My father . . . my own father locked himself up in a tower for three weeks, disgraced at what I did. Didn't eat or drink the entire time he was in there. When he finally came out, he was comatosed." Fiyero clenched his hands into fists. "But I had to do it."

"Fiyero, you did do the right thing. You stood up against an unjust ruler. There was no other option. And you got to promise me something."

Fiyero raised his head wearily. "What?"

"You're going to go up to your old man and talk with him. Tell him everything."

"I can't do that."

"Yes you can, dammit. You're his _son_! I never got to have the luxury of knowing my own father or my own true family! I'm not going to let you destroy that. You must make it up to him. He will forgive you."

Fiyero grew angry. "I don't know how things work where you come from, but forgiveness isn't given out like candy!"

"Fiyero, blood runs a hell of a lot deeper than anything in the world. Don't ruin it. Swear to me that you're going to make it up to you old man. Swear it."

Fiyero locked his gaze with Hunk, and by just looking at him, Fiyero knew Hunk was right. He nodded slowly, breaking his gaze. "I swear, I will. I'll try to. I hope you're right about this."

Hunk lowered his head too. "I want to ask you another favor."

"Yes?"

"Can I trust you to hold on to something?"

"Sure. What?"

Hunk pulled out a small black velvet box from the inside pocket of his shirt. "Dorothy's wedding ring."

Fiyero's eyes went wide. "Hunk . . . I can't hold on to that!"

"Fiyero, I need to trust you with this. I need you to hold on to this for me."

"But why?"

"You're the safest thing in the world. Can't die, can't get hurt, can hide small stuff, etcetra."

"Well, I do need to be re-stuffed every couple of months . . ."

"I really didn't need to know that."

"Sorry."

"So, can you do this for me?"

Fiyero looked back and forth between the ring box and Hunk. Reluctantly, he took the ring and placed it inside his jacket. "Alright. I'll do it. Although I still don't understand why."

"Just insurance. In case anything should happen to me."

"Don't say that."

Hunk gave Fiyero a hard glare. "This is a dangerous war. Sooner or later, someone's going to get hurt. Hell, a lot of people are going to get hurt. It's more than likely I'm going to be one of them."

"But you won't."

"I hope so, but we have to face the facts here."

Fyero only shook his head. "I still don't like it."

They sat in silence for a while longer. Fiyero finally stood up and started to head for the door. When he opened it to leave, he turned around to ask Hunk one last question.

"We're going to break out Ferior's family in a few days. Do you want in?" Fiyero asked.

Hunk smiled. "I would be more than happy to help. But I should talk to Dorothy about it first. But if she doesn't mind, I'm in."

Fiyero smiled. "I'll see you in the morning, then. You should get some rest. You must be exhausted." Fiyero slipped out the door and disappeared into the depths of the barracks yet again like a ghost.

Hunk smiled. He leaned over once more to kiss Dorothy good night before he went into his own room, and fell asleep in almost an instant.


	9. Upgrade

**This chapter's going to be mostly about what's happening concerning Morribe and will be told mostly from Ferior's perspective. Just so there's no confusion.**

**High-T for the guards' potty mouths, just to be safe.**

**Please review!! Pretty please?! They make me happy. And make me post chapters more often.**

Ferior hid behind a tree, keeping in the shadows to avoid detection. Just a few hundred meters in front of him stood a camp of guards, and behind the camp was a village, newly industrialized with factoried spewing black smoke into the sky. That was where they needed to go.

"We're going to go around the camp, which may take a while," Ferior said to Boq, keeping quiet. "Even if they don't think you're the original Tin Man, it would still be trouble if you're seen."

"Whatever you say," Boq growled.

Ferior rolled his eyes and started to push the wheeled table around the camp, keeping hidden in the foliage of the forest. Damn it, it was a hell of a mistake to agree to push a damn robot through all this underbrush. Why couldn't he have asked Elphaba for a levitation spell?!

It was approaching dark, and the fires of the camp glowed eerily in the twilight. There wasn't much movement in the camp, which put Ferior at a bit of an ease. Just a little further, and they'd be at the steel factory.

"Ok, now listen up, and listen closely. You don't speak, you don't move, you don't do a single thing, no matter what," Ferior whispered to Boq urgently. "You need to obey everything I say without hesitation, if we want to make this look convincing. I don't care if the guy desecrates your grandma's grave, you remain immoble. Understood?"

Boq gave a shaky nod. "I understand," he croaked.

"Good." Ferior was finally at the doors to the factory, and even from the outside, in front of the doors, he could feel the imense heat from the furnacee inside. He grabbed the warm doorhandle and pushed the door wide open.

In the room, hunched over an anvil was a gorilla of a man, with thick hairy arms and was at least six and a half feet tall. He had a thick bushy beard to compliment his wild black hair. He was wearing thick gloves and was carefully welding two large pieces of steel together with a blowtorch. He paused when Ferior came in, and broke out into a big smile.

"Ferior, my man, what you doin' here?" he asked gruffly, spreading out his arms and clapping him on the back. "I thought you was workin' in the prisons now."

"Hey, Groav," Ferior said. "I am, but I was sent by Morrible in person for a special assignment for you."

Groav's eyes lit up and he rubbed his hands together. "Oh, I like the sound of it already. What you got for me?"

Ferior pulled Boq into the factory and shoved him in front of Groav. "See this piece of shit? We need repairs for this pile of crap. Pronto."

Groav looked hungrily at Boq, and looked him over carefully. "Oh, she's a beaut!"

Boq's eyes snapped open and shot Groav a murderous glare. Ferior hissed, and Boq closed his eyes and remained still before Groav noticed.

"What the fuck happened to it? Looked like you just dumped this thing in a pool of water."

"Well, that's almost what happened. This is one of the first prototypes of the project you're working on," Ferior explained casually.

Groav glared at him. "So now _you're_ working on it, too?!"

"Hey, you're the one who told me all about it, even though it was top secret, you fuckhead!" Ferior yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Groav. "And now Morrible found out, and now yes, I _am_ working on it!!"

Groav's eyes went wide. "How'd she find out?!"

"How do you think?! Morribe has ears everywhere! But, consider yourself a lucky man," Ferior said, his voice growing cold and deadly. "She's too preoccupied dealing with the fiasco concerning the escaped prisoners to deal with you for the moment." Groav's eyes went wide with fear and terror of Morrible's wrath. Ferior felt a pang of guilt for lying to him, but he shoved the feeling out of his mind when he remembered that his family was being held hostage by the same woman Groav was willingly working for. "And that's why she assigned me to the project; to keep an eye on you and make sure you keep your fucking mouth shut! Now, let's review the policies one more time: you are to tell absolutely no one about this! Got it?! _No one_ is to even hear about this! If Morrible finds out you slipped up this time, she'll unleash hell on you. She's very upset right now. Don't want that to happen to you now, do you?"

Groav lowered his gaze to the floor and shook his head, trembling with fear. Amazing how a few words can turn the strongest of men to sniveling cowards. Ferior was good at that. It wasn't a talent he was proud of at all, though.

"I'm glad you understand. How fast can you fix the prototype?"

"I can have it repaired in three, maybe four days."

Ferior glared at him.

"But, I can have the machine ready in a day and a half if you can give me a hand," Groav said quickly.

Ferior gave a low growl. "Fine. It's not like I have anything better to do."

Groav went over to a metal cabinet and opened up the top drawer and pulled out a ripped, stained folder. He laid out the sheets of paper on a nearby table. Ferior glanced over his shoulder.

"Are those-?"

"These are the original blueprints we got from the Tin Can," Groav said with a snicker.

"I thought the prisoners stole the blueprints when they broke out," Ferior challenged.

"They stole a copy. Luckily, we have the originals."

"Of course you do. Morrible would have had you killed if you didn't."

Groav shuddered. Ferior hated threatening him like this, but there was no other way. Groav went back to Boq and looked at him. "We're going to have to take off all the rusted metal. The entire exoskeleton. And replace any circuits and wires that were also damaged."

"Understood."

"What happened to his chest plate?"

"Broke off the body when they were dicking around with it at the other factory," Ferior lied. He honestly had no clue what had happened to Boq. Why was his chest plate missing? Whatever, he could ask Fiyero later.

Groav shook his head, and gazed down at the power cell, which was beating and pulsing like an electric heart. "If that ain't the coolest thing I had ever seen, then I don't know what is."

"Yeah, and when you're done gawking at the damn thing, I'd like to get this thing up and running asap," Ferior said angrily. "I aready brought you some metal to work with, so let's get on that, huh?"

Groav nodded hurriedly, and grabbed his visor, a welding torch, and a hammer. They took the scraps of metal on the table Boq was on, and Groav immediately started to cut the pieces out into the shapes labeled on the blueprints. Ferior helped him in anyway he could, by reading off the dimensions, by grabbing more metal, by seperating the finished pieces from the scaps, anything at all to quicken the process. Time was of the essence.

When Groav finished cutting, he was exhausted and dripping with sweat. Ferior didn't blame him. He had to take off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his undershirt, which was now soaked with his own sweat. Being locked up in the factory was like working in the heart of hell.

"Let's take a quick water break. I wanna show you sumthin' anyway," Groav panted wearily.

Ferior nodded his head in agreement. Groav pulled out a cantene from an icebox in the far corner of the room and took a long pull from it. He tossed it to Ferior and he gulped the fresh, ice cold water thirstily. Ferior wiped his mouth and tossed the cantene back to Groav. "So, what did you wanna show me?"

"I finished making the first of the tik-toks Morrible wanted for her army," Groav said in a low voice, but unable to contain his excitement. "It works, and everything. Come on, I'll show ya."

Curious and alarmed, Ferior quickly followed Groav. He was more than eager to discover anything at all that could help Fiyero and the Resistance. Groav opened up a side door to a smaller and cooler room. Groav flipped the light witch, and the small cramped room burst with light. Ferior squinted, and when his eyes adjusted, he gasped at what he saw.

It was almost an exact replica of Boq. A macine that stood deathly still and unmoving on its feet. Ferior was overcome by an unexplainable sense of dread, like he was suddenly submersed in an ocean of icy water. He coulld not explain immediately what troubled him so much. But when Groav turned the machine on, Ferior understood what set him on edge.

The robot jerked to life like a zombie, and glared at Ferior with cold, dead eyes. Soulless eyes, as if plucked from corpses. Ferior shuddered to see this . . . monstrosity. It took two jerky steps towards Ferior, and Ferior backed away from the machine. Fear began to well up inside of him. It was like a living corpse, devoid of anything resembing life or existence. It was a polar opposite of what Boq was. He may be critcal and sarcastic, but at least he showed emotion. Seeing this . . . _thing_ devoid of any resemblance to human life scared Ferior more than he could explain.

The robot turned to Groav. "WHAT IS YOUR COMMAND, MASTER." it stated in a flat dead tone. Ferior shuddered again to hear the icy cold voice of the machine. Groav smiled and turned to Ferior.

"The damn thing even knows who the boss is!" Groav said proudly, unfazed by the robot. He gave Ferior a quizzical look. "What's up? You look like you've seen a ghost."

_I'm looking at the closest thing to the living dead! This soulless machine . . . I can't explain why, but it terrifies me!_ Ferior thought to himself. "It's . . . amazing," Ferior choked out. "Never seen anything like it in my life."

GRoav smiled proudly and turned back to the machine. "Power down. You're not needed yet," he said calmly.

"YES MASTER." The robot then went still, and closed its eyes. Ferior composed himself and took a deep breath. Thank god that was all over.

Groav then turned a critical eye to the robot. "But I must say, the blueprints for the robots aren't fool proof."

Sensing that Groav was about to spill important information, Ferior instantly grew attentive and listened closely. "Oh? How so?"

"See the neck? Notice how there's a lack of any plating or protection there. The wires are all exposed. One well-placed arrow or sword could cut through those wires like butter and disable the robot."

Ferior listened carefully. With this information, it would be easier to defeat the robot army. But he had to make sure that Groav wouldn't make any upgrades or else the information would be useless.

"Groav, stop being so critical. It's fine. We're going up against a bunch of stupid Animals. The design is fine," Ferior said.

Groav stared at the robot in silence. "Yeah, I guess you're right. The joints are a little weak, though, too . . ."

"Groav, it's fine. Stop worrying about it." He paused, examining the robot. "How quickly do you think you can make the entire robot army Morrible wants?"

Groav thought for a minute. "Dunno. Maybe two week or so."

Ferior was shocked, but he concealed his reaction. "Really? That quickly?"

"Yep! Morrible has others working on the project, too. By the end of the week, we should have a solid number. Then within another week, we'll have an entire army ready."

Ferior was shocked to hear this. Was it really possible to mass-produce these machines that quickly? This was very bad news, indeed. Ferior walked out of the room, and Groav followed. They then continued their work on repairing Boq. Groav took the cut pieces of steel over to the furnace and heated them, making the metal soft. He then brought them over to the anvil, where he hammered the pieces into shape. Ferior continuously filled buckets with icy water to quickly cool the metal, and when he wasn't doing that, he was busy prying the rusted metal off Boq. Boq and Ferior were out of ear shot of Groav, and they were able to talk quietly, as long as Boq didn't move.

"That fucking bastard called me a girl!" Boq hissed.

"Don't get bent out of shape, you pussy," Ferior whispered, then chuckled at the double meaning as he watched Groav pound the metal on the anvil.

Boq sighed, then thankfully changed the subject. "You look a little anxious. What's going on?"

Ferior kept his voice extra low. "He's already made a duplicate of you. And he predicts he can mass produce them and get a sizeable army ready in as little as two weeks,"

"What?" Boq whispered hoarsely. "How is that possible?!"

"I don't know. Maybe Morrible has a spell, or something. But I did figure out the weaknesses in the robots."

"That's either good news or bad news."

"Good news for us, bad news for them," Ferior said with a smile. "Their necks are exposed. Just cut the wires in the neck, and they'll be rendered useless!"

"But then the same goes for me, right?" Boq said worriedly.

"Don't worry, we can make extra upgrades back at the barracks."

Ferior continued to take off all the rusted metal in silence, neither saying a word. Ferior was somewhat embarrasseed to disassemble Boq. Boq seemed as equally uncomfortable. Ferior finished as much as he could, and by that time, Groav finished shaping the pieces, a process that took a good four or five hours. Ferior was exhausted, but Groav was a man with limitless energy if the occassion demanded for him to be.

"You look like you could use a rest," Groav commented.

Ferior nodded in agreement, but he didn't want to leave Boq unattended in the hands of one of Morrible's allies. He eyed Groav dangerously. "If you try anything, Morrible will hear about it very quickly," he warned.

Groav nodded. "Hey, I swear, I'm not gonna do anything to anger her," he said earnestly. And Ferior believed it.

Ferior slumped in a nearby chair, and soon nodded off to sleep.

* * *

Hunk woke up, and rubbed his head. Wow, he felt really good. That was probably the best sleep he's ever had.

He checked up on Dorothy. She was still sleeping soundly.

Not wanting to disurb her, he carefully closed the doors and decided to explore the barracks. And maybe get some breakfast. Or lunch, depending on what time it was.

He walked casually down the tunnels, passing many talking animals along the way. Dorothy said the ones that could talk were Animals . . . he still didn't get it. Whatever.

After a couple of minutes of exploring the tunnels he saw a room off to the side. The double doors were closed, and a sword and shield were carved into the doors. Curious, Hunk opened the doors and looked inside.

Inside the room was Fiyero. And he had his sword in hand, and was gliding around a dummy as if he was skating on ice, hacking and slicing at it with amazing agility and strength. Hunk immediately knew that Fiyero was sword practicing and decided to leave him alone in the time being-

"What's going on, Hunk?"

Damn.

"Uh, nothing, just looking around. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you."

Fiyero turned around and looked at him with a smile. "Don't worry aout it. I wasn't doing much, anyway. Just going over some basic maneuvers."

Hunk rubbed the back of his neck uneasily. "Um . . . what time is it?" he asked awkwardly.

"It's almost ten o'clock," Fiyero said promptly, not even looking at a watch or anything. "Is Dorothy still asleep?"

"Yeah."

They stood there in an awkward silence, neither sure what to say. Hunk was debating whether he should just leave.

Fiyero then threw him a staff, and Hunk instinctively grabbed it out of mid-air. He was confused. "What's this for?"

"Practice," Fiyero said coyly, putting away his sword and grabbing a similar staff. "I'll be your personal trainer. I'm going to teach you how to sword fight."

Hunk smiled. "Awesome."

* * *

My eyes slowly fluttered open, and I stretched while stifling a yawn. I felt better than ever and pleasantly refreshed and energized. I then saw the tray of food on the nearby table, and upon hearing my stomach growl loudly, decided to help myself. The soup was hot and savory, and the sandwich was delicious. I finished my meal and went to see if Hunk was already up.

He wasn't in his room, so I decided to go look for him. But where the heck could he be?!

I walked down the barrack's intricate tunnels calling out Hunk's name and asking any nearby Animals if they had seen them. None of the Animals had, so I continued to wander the tunnels. I was getting irritated, and worried. Where could he be?

Then, just ahead, I saw a small crowd of Animals gathered at the threshold of a door, looking inside the room. They were all amazed and amused at whatever was inside the room. Curiosity got the better of me and I headed over to see what they were looking at. Before I saw inside, I heard voices, and the loud smack of wood against wood.

"Keep your stance . . . that's it. Now watch my chest - don't watch the hands! Watch my chest! Good . . . parry! Block! Good! Try being a little more aggresive, you're still a little too conservative and defensive. . . "

I peeked inside. Fiyero and Hunk were fighting with wooden staffs, practicing and going over techniques repeatedly. Now they started to scrimage, and Hunk charged at Fyero, swinging his wooden stick with considerable force. Fiyero easily blocked Hunk's staff with his own. They continued to fight for a good five or ten minutes, swinging their staffs at each other like professonals. I was very impressed to see Hunk put up a valiant fight against Fiyero, who was an amazing fighter. Fiyero suddenly lifted his arm up right at Hunk's forehead and with a flick of his wrist, a knife suddenly appeared in Fiyero's hand. Hunk paused, panting heavily, and glared at Fiyero.

"You cheater," he growled jokingly.

Fiyero laughed and withdrew his staff and knife and gave Hunk a pat on the shoulder. "You did exceptionally well today. We'll continue practicing later tonight."

Hunk nodded. "But why did you pull out that knife?!"

"Always be prepared for anything," Fiyero said, and slipped the knife back up his sleeve. "You know, one of the greatest perks of being a scarecrow is that it's easy to hide lots of weapons inside you!"

"So just how many knives _do_ you have stuffed up your sleeves?!"

"About twenty or so. And that doesn't include the ammunition for my pistol."

"Jeeze."

The Animals began to leave, seeing that the sword melee was over, but I stood by the door and waited for Hunk to come out. When he did, he was surprised to see me.

"Dorothy! You're awake!"

"Well, duh. I can't sleep forever, you know!"

"How did you sleep?"

"Very well. You?"

"Same." Fiyero then leaned against the wall of the tunnels and looked expectantly at Hunk, raising an eyebrow. Hunk gave a small nod and looked back at me.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Um, Dorothy, Fiyero offered me to help break out Ferior's family. I would be more than happy to help him, but I wanted to make sure you were ok with it before I did." Hunk said seriously.

I wasn't sure what to think. I was touched that he would want my opinion first, but I was also worried that something bad would happen to him if he went back into the prisons.

"Hunk . . . I'm not sure," I said quietly. "I don't want you to get hurt or captured!"

"I understand. But I want to help," Hunk said earnestly."But if you don't want me to go, then I won't."

I shook my head. "No, you should go. I'm happy you want to help." I leaned closer and whispered in his ear. "But promise me you won't get hurt."

"I'll come back without a scratch," he promised. I smiled.

"Then I completely agree with you. Go help Ferior." I gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "So how much did you learn about sword fighting?"

"Quite a lot, actually," Hunk said happily. "I already learned all the basic maneuvers and the techniques!"

"He's a quick learner," Fiyero said. "Soon, you may be just about as good as me!"

"I don't know about that! How many times did you kick my butt already today?" Hunk joked. We all laughed, and Fiyero lead us to the dining chamber, where Glinda, Elphaba and Osio were. Greetings were exchanged and we talked to each other for a while, swapping stories about what has been going on lately.

"But . . . there's still something I don't understand," Elphaba said. "How did you and Hunk get to Oz in the first place?"

"Glinda sent us a messenger Bird with a teleportation spell, and I used it to get us here," I explained.

Elphaba glared at Glinda. "You sent her a teleportation spell?!"

"It was the only thing I could think of at the moment!" Glinda said defensively. "Besides, it worked, didn't it?"

"But that's just the thing! Teleportation spells are extremely difficult!" Elphaba then looked back at me. "How did you do it?"

"Well, the Hawk told me how to read it, and I repeated exactly what he said, and bingo, we were here," I explained. Elphaba gaped at me.

"You were able to do the spell _in one attempt_?!" Elphaba said, amazed. "Dorothy . . . that's incredible!"

"Well, I had to try it out a few times before I said it correctly, but yeah," I said. I was starting to get unnerved about Elphaba's reaction. What wasn't she telling me?

"Dorothy . . . you may actually be a very powerful witch," Elphaba said slowly. "To do such a complicated spell so well . . . it just blows my mind!"

I gaped at her. "Really? You think I'm a . . . witch?"

"I don't think, I know," Elphaba said.

"But . . . I can't be! Maybe the spell was simpler than you think. I mean, even Glinda said everyone could do a little bit of magic! Maybe I'm just a little more powerful than an average person. But I don't think I'm that powerful. If I was, I would have found out, wouldn't I?"

"Not necessarily," Elphaba said. "And the fact that everyone can do magic is true, but it would take years of intense training to even do the simplest spells. No, Dorothy, there's no doubt in my mind that you just may be one of the most powerful witches in Oz."

Elphaba's statement blew my mind. I couldn't believe it! I was actually a powerful witch, and I had no idea! And I felt . . . excited.

"Can you teach me how to do magic?" I asked Elphaba eagerly. "I want to help in this battle, too. If I'm as powerful as you think I am, then maybe I can be a huge help in this war!"

"No, Dorothy," Hunk said sternly, standing up. "I don't want to risk getting you hurt."

I narrowed my eyes. "And what about you?! You were just sword fighting with Fiyero a moment ago and you just told me that you were going to break someone out of prison!"

"That's different-"

"How? Because I'm a girl?"

Hunk sighed, clearly defeated. "I just don't want you to be in the fight. I don't want to have you get hurt," he said softly.

My anger lessened, and I understood why he was being so defensive of me. "You think that I'm not strong enough to do this, but I'm not a kid anymore. I want to do this. I want to help just as much as you do. I don't want to just stand back and watch while everyone is out there risking their own lives!"

Hunk slumped back in his chair. "You're right. I'm just so worried something might happen to you."

We sat in silence for a while, not sure what to say to each other. Fnally Elphaba spoke up.

"I will teach you how to use magic," she said. "And maybe Glinda can teach you some healing spells. I was never very good at that."

Glinda beamed with eagerness. "Oh, really? That will be so much fun!" She then looked at me. "We are going to have so much fun! We'll share girl stories, and do each other's nails, and get some new clothes for you-"

"Glinda? I thought you were going to teach her healing spells?" Elphaba said with a small grin.

"Oh, we'll do that too," Glinda said with a wave of her hand. "We can start tonight. Meet me in my room in a few hours!"

"And you, mister," Fiyero said, pointing at Hunk. "We'll pick up where we left off in two hours."

"Got it," Hunk said dutifully. He turned to me and gave me a hug. "See you later tonight?"

"Most definately."

* * *

"Hey, Ferior, wake up."

Ferior groggily opened one eye to see Groav standing over him, shaking his shoulder. Ferior brushed off Groav's hand and sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"What do you want?" he grumbled.

Groav smiled widely. "I'm done! The robot's complete!"

"Seriously?!" Ferior said, jumping to his feet. "Already?! How did you finish so fast?"

"You're talking to the best mechanic in Oz!" he boasted. "It was really no problem. You did most of the work by prying off all the rusted metal. It was a synch to weld the metal on."

"Show me."

Groav lead him into another side room, just across the room the duplicate was in. And there he was, Boq standing upright against the wall. Ferior gasped in astonishment at the improvements. Boq was now covered in shiny steel, with absolutely no sign of rust left. He also looked more sleek and smooth, and more aerodynamic. Why Groav made Boq more aerodynamic completely baffled Ferior.

"Wow. He looks . . . cool," Ferior sasid in astonishment.

Groav smiled. "The pride of Morrible's army right there!"

Ferior's throat clenched. Crap, how was he going to get Boq out of here without arousing suspicion?

"Yeah, listen, remember what I said earlier? To keep this top secret?" Ferior whispered to Groav.

"Yeah."

"Now, I'm going to take this robot to Morrible personally. To keep top secrecy. And you are to keep your lips _sealed_. Got it?"

Groav nodded. "Got it."

"Good." He turned to Boq. "Awaken!"

Boq's eyes snapped open, and Ferior could almost see Boq raise an eyebrow with disgust.

"Follow me!" Ferior ordered. He then turned to Groav. "Thank you for all your help, and Morrible will be very pleased, indeed."

"No problem. Put in a good word for me, will ya?" Groav said.

"Of course. Until we meet again." He then walked out of the factory, with Boq following close behind. It was about midday, and Ferior and Boq quickly ran into the safety of the forest without being spotted by the men in the nearby camp. Ferior sighed with relief.

"That son of a bitch!" Boq growled, finally able to rant. "He completely tore me apart! Absolutely no sense of repect! Damn! And he called me a fucking GIRL!!"

"Hey, at least you're fixed and better than ever!" Ferior grumbled. If only Groav didn't replace his rusted jaw, then he wouldn't be able to talk.

Boq growled. "Fine. I guess you're right. Let's get the hell out of here." They headed off back to the barracks, keeping quiet and slipping into the dense foliage.

"And the first thing you say to me is 'awaken?!' What the hell was that all about?!"

"You know, I think I liked it better when your jaw was rusted shut. Then you wouldn't be whining so much."

* * *


	10. The Meaning of Indestructible

It's been four days since we last saw Boq and Ferior. Granted, we all agreed to give Ferior a day to get to the factory, a few days to repair Boq, and a day to return, but still, everyone was anxious and worried. We haven't heard at all from Ferior, and often Fiyero could be found in the training room, pacing back and forth.

In those few days, I began my magic lessons with Glinda and Elphaba. At first, I could hardly make a pebble float, but soon, with much encouragements from Glinda, I began to control and master magic. I also learned some simple healing spells, which came in handy after I kept cutting myself while attempting to make my own clothes. Fortunately, Glinda was able to show me how to make clothes without butchering myself.

Hunk spent the majority of the days training with Fiyero, and would always come out driping with sweat, exhausted but still in a good mood.

Finally, while we were all sitting down for dinner, we heard a commotion down in one of the tunnels. It was Echo, the Bat scout.

"He's back! He's back!" Echo cried out excitedly as he zoomed through the barrack's many tunnels. "The Tin Man is back!"

We saw Echo fly up to us and land awkwardly at the table we were sitting at. Fiyero gave him a small nod at the tiny Bat. He nodded back, panting heavily, but was smiling broadly. "General Scarecrow, the Tin Man has returned!"

"Thank you very much, Echo. Where is he?" Fiyero said, jumping to his feet, finally relieved to recieve the news.

"He's with Ferior, approaching the southeast entrance!" the Bat said before he zoomed off again.

We all stood up at the same time and followed Fiyero and Elphaba as they led us through the barracks. I was excited to finally see Boq again. Glinda was walking next to me, and she looked both anxious and nervous. Her mouth kept twitching upwards as if to smile, but her eyes were rimmed with tears, and she kept rubbing her hands together nervously.

"Are you ok?" I asked nervously.

She gave me a small nod, then started calming herself down with deep breaths. Elphaba also looked a little uneasy.

"I wonder if he'll forgive me for what I did to him," she muttered quietly to Fiyero.

Fiyero looked at her. "I'm sure he had by now. After all, you did save his life."

Elphaba gave him a skeptical look. "Yeah, but I was threatening him while doing so."

"Don't worry about it," Osio said.

We walked together in relative silence for a while, and as we started to approach the southeast entraance, we began to hear voices.

"All I'm saying is that he didn't have to treat me like some sort of stupid toy!"

"Well what did you expect?! To him, you _were_ just a big shiny toy!"

"But he called me a GIRL!"

"Oh, for the love of Lurline, GIVE IT A REST ALREADY!"

Fiyero started to laugh quietly to himself. "That's Ferior and Boq, alright."

At the end of the tunnel, we saw Ferior and Boq walking towards us, arguing to each other about . . . whatever they were arguing about. When I saw Boq, I gasped at the immense improvements. He was very sleek and much cooler looking than before. Everyone else seemed to be just as impressed at Boq's new design as I was. Boq saw us as well, and he stopped talking and just looked at us, unsure of what to do. His gaze lowered to the ground, and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand uneasily. Ferior just gave us a small nod, and went back outside, and back to his post in Morrible's prisons.

For a while we just stood there in mutual silence. Finally, Glinda ran up to Boq and wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. Boq stiffened, surprised at what Glinda was doing. Awkwardly, he hugged her back.

"Um . . . hi," he said uneasily.

"Oh, Boq, thank god you're ok," she whispered through tears. "I was so worried! I'm glad you're alright,"

"I'm fine."

"Please forgive me."

Boq was stunned. "What for? You haven't done anything wrong."

"But I have!" Glinda cried. "All those years in school that I treated you like you weren't even there! I was so mean to you back then, but you still came back! I'm so sorry! And I was the one who got you stuck with Nessa in the first place! And it's probably my fault you're like this, too!"

"Glinda, none of this is your fault," Boq reassured. He then gave Elphaba a nasty look. "It was someone else."

"Hey, why don't you keep your mouth shut and consider yourself lucky you're still alive," Fiyero warned angrily.

"Still have hard feelings, huh?" Elphaba said calmly, completely unfazed.

"There is no one person who is completely at fault," Osio said. "You can't blame Elphaba. She was only trying to save your life."

"Boq, please, I know Elphie better than you do. She wouldn't try to hurt anyone on purpose," Glinda said. "Please. Just let it go. For me."

Boq and Glinda looked at each other for a while in silence, then Boq slumped his soulders. "Alright. I will. But only for you."

Glinda kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She then backed up and looked at him more fully, grinning from ear to ear. "You're my knight in shining armor!"

Boq laughed uneasily. "Yeah, I guess so."

Teriom then flew up to Fiyero and landed on his shoulder. Fiyero didn't look surprised at all to see him, but he still looked worried.

"What is it?" Fiyero asked.

"Sir . . . I have news of some new prisoners I think you'll be interested in," Teriom said worriedly. "Just a few days ago, about a day after you broke out Dorothy and the others . . . two more people were imprisoned. Munchkinlanders." He then looked at Boq. "Two people that you might be interested in. Your parents."

All eyes turned to Boq. He didn't move, just stared in disbelief at the Crow.

"Are . . . are you sure?" Boq finally asked shakily. "But how . . . _why_?!"

Teriom nodded. "I have heard that since you were affiliated with Elphaba when you were in school, you were on the top of Morrible's hit list. But you 'disappeared.' So now your parents have been taken into custody in hope that they know where you're hiding."

Boq was both horrified and enraged. He turned to Elphaba violently. "This is all your fault!" he yelled at her. Elphaba didn't seem the least bit frightened of him. "If it weren't for you, none of this would have ever happened! It's your fault my parents are in jail! And now they're going to get killed!"

"Excuse me, but the last time I checked, I could hardly be called an 'affiliate' of yours. We barely knew each other back in school! Don't you get it? Morrible's getting desperate. She's going to the ultimate lengths to eliminate any chance of an enemy. And I'm sorry your parents are in jail. How could I have ever seen that coming?"

Boq was only more enraged. "If you hadn't turned me into this _monster_, then I wouldn't have to hide, and my parents wouldn't be in jail!"

"If I hadn't made you what you are, you would be dead!" Elphaba yelled back. "And even if you _were_ dead, Morrible would still have your parents."

"Boq, she's right," Fiyero interrupted before he could say anything. "But now you have a chance to do something about it. I can help you break them out. We'll do it the day we rescue Ferior's family."

Boq's hands clenched into fists. He only lowered his head and paced back and forth angrily. "Fine. I'll help. But only to get my parents back."

Fiyero nodded. "Good. We're going to need all the help we can get. Hunk will be helping us as well. Ferior's heading back to the prisons right now and he'll be back tonight with the plans. But we've already got a rough sketch of what's going to go on." He turned to Teriom. "Where is Morrible keeping Boq's parents?"

"At the exact opposite end of where Ferior's family is," Teriom said bitterly.

Fiyero shook his head. "That's going to be a problem."

"So now what do we do?" I asked.

"We have to wait until Ferior comes back, then we can finalize our plan," Fiyero said. "But for now, we can practice."

"Practice for what?" Boq said irritatedly.

"For breaking in, numbskull," Fiyero growled. "And just to let you know, you're not exactly the stealthiest person in the world."

"Like you are," Boq retorted.

"ENOUGH!" Elphaba yelled. "Both of you are acting like children! Set your problems aside until after this war! Right now we need the both of you to cooperate with each other!"

Fiyero and Boq eyed each other angrily. Fiyero sighed.

"Fine. We don't have much time. Hunk, come with me. There are a few things I need to teach you before we attempt a breakout." He turned to Boq. "You too, Boq."

Hunk followed Fiyero without hesitation, then Boq did too after a roll of his eyes and an agitated huff. THey headed back to the armory, a cavern filled with an assortment of weapons and armor, along with guns and ammunition. Boq looked around, stunned.

"Where did you get all this?" Boq asked.

"I have my resources," Fiyero said simply. Hunk picked up a nearby sword and flipped it around his wrist skillfully. He then put it back when Fiyero cleared his throat. "Alright, listen up. We don't have much time to practice, and we can't afford to make any mistakes in this operation. Any slip-ups will most likely get us in a whole lot of trouble. Now, first and foremost, you need to know how to ambush a guard. It's simple. Have a knife in hand, approach him from behind, and then at the saame time, cover his mouth and stab him in the heart."

Hunk raised hs eyebrows at how calmly Fiyero was telling them how to kill someone. Boq was as equally as horrified, if not even moreso.

"What do I look like, an assassin?!" Boq said. "I can't kill someone!"

Fiyero's gaze hardened as he looked at Boq. He took a few steps towards him, and with a flick of his wrist, a knife appeared in his hand. "This is not the time to be compassionate towards an enemy that will kill your entire family without hesitation," Fiyero said quietly. "There is no choice in the matter. Either kill them, or let them live long enough to kill the ones you love." He slapped the knife in Boq's hand. "You need to learn how to kill without hesitation, and without mercy."

"What's happened to you?" Boq asked, shocked. "Last time I saw you, you would hardly hurt a fly. Now you're talking about murdering people like it's just a game."

"I've watched countess innocents being slaughtered mercilessly," Fiyero said harshly. "I have learned that I cannot allow that to happen. I have learned that the only way we can defeat these people is to kill them. These men can't be reasoned with. You can't change their ways, no matter what. They're brainwashed, Boq. If Morrible tells them to kill their own mother, they'll do it. Without hesitation."

Boq lowered his gaze to look at the knife. Fiyero pulled out a wooden replica of a human and dragged it in front of Boq. Wordlessy, he gestured to Boq to ambush the dummy. Boq only looked at him.

"I don't know if I can," he said hesitantly.

"It's just a wooden dummy," Fiyero said. "Just show me how you would do it."

Boq sighed, and walked up to it and stabbed it in the midde of the chest. "There. Happy?"

Fiyero shook his head. "You weren't being cautious. You need to be more stealthy. And the guard would have cried out a warning when you stabbed it and you would be dead. Now, I'll show you how it's done."

For the next two hours or so, Boq, Fiyero, and Hunk practiced the ambush technique, and within an hour Hunk had it perfected. Boq was still hesitating a second too long and often wasn't stabbing the wooden dummy in the right spot. After an additional half hour or hour of other basic training, Fiyero dismissed Hunk.

"You did real good today, Hunk," Fiyero complimented.

"Thank you."

"Why don't you call it a day and get some rest? We'll pick up tomorrow, when Ferior has delivered the plans."

Hunk glanced at Boq briefly before he looked back at Fiyero. "Ok. But go easy on him. He's not as accepting of who he is as you are," he said quietly before heading out.

Fiyero watched as he go, thinking about what Hunk just said. And he was right. He may not have a problem with his unique situation, but Boq wasn't used to something so drastic happening to him. And now his parents . . . Fiyero sighed. This can't be easy for what Boq's going through.

"Hey, Boq," Fiyero said quietly. "You're not a bad fighter."

Boq looked at him hesitantly. "Thanks. But I'm no soldier. I'm just a geeky Munchkin who got stuck in a metal body."

"Maybe you should put that metal body to good use."

Boq turned around to face him. "Fiyero, I'm not a soldier! You may be used to killing people, but I'm not! I don't think I can do this."

"Boq, think about how many lives are at stake here. You, your parents, everyone in the entire barracks, and Glinda. We need you. I don't think you know how valuable you could be in this battle. You're virtually indestructible. And we need you out there, saving the innocent and putting down the corrupt."

"My body may be indestructible, but I don't think I can handle it mentally," Boq said quietly, staring down at the floor.

Fiyero wasn't sure what to say. He knew Boq could get angry and irritated, but he would never try to kill anyone. He wasn't like that. Boq was right about one thing: he wasn't used to this.

"Hey, remember when we were with Dorothy all those years ago, and after I had that nightmare you totally kicked my ass?" Fiyero said with a smile.

Boq also gave a small smile. "Yeah, I remember that."

"If you can kick _my_ ass, you can kick anyone's ass."

"Kicking ass is a whole lot different than killing," Boq said reluctantly.

"Not really. Can you remember the one important factor that drove you to beat the living daylights out of me?"

Boq gave him a confused look. "You had your gun pointed at Dorothy!"

"Boq . . ." Fiyero insisted with a raised eyebrow.

He sighed. "I was . . . angry that you . . that you and Glinda . . . you know . . ."

"Ah."

"Did you ever love Glinda?" Boq asked suddenly.

"What?" Fiyero said, caught off guard.

"Did you really ever truly love Glinda?"

Fiyero hesitated. "I like her a lot. As a very good friend. But love?" He shook his head. "No. I didn't love her. Not like I love Elphaba. I do care about Glinda immensely. But I don't love her. And I think she likes you a lot. Like, _a lot_."

Boq raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

"Did you see her when you got back? She was ecstatic. And she saved your life."

Boq smiled and stared back down at the floor. If he could blush, he would have been beet red.

"You know, before they imprisoned us, I _did_ fight off a squadron of guards." Boq said slowly.

Fiyero smiled. "So you do have some fight in you. I guess you just need the right incentive."

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever someone you care about is threatened, or whenever you feel extremely angry or upset, you become a fighter. Now, if you could mentally tell yourself that someone you love is being threatened, which is the case here, then maybe that will conquer your reluctance to kill."

Boq was still hesitant. "I still don't know."

"Come on, let's practice for a while more," Fiyero urged. "And now, this time imagine that this dummy's going to kill Glinda, and just go ballistic."

* * *

While Hunk was walking back to his room, he passed several other rooms with armor and weapons in it. Some armor was for Animmals, and other for people. In one of the rooms he saw an ironsmith busily pounding away on an anvil. All around the room were newly finished armor plates, and some had wicked looking spikes covering them. The man looked up from the anvil and gave Hunk a nod.

"So, did you make all this yourself?" Hunk asked.

"Yep. I just got here a day or two ago. Making armor and weapons ever since," the man said proudly.

"Impressive." Hunk said. Then, he got an idea. "Hey, can I ask you to make some armor for a friend of mine? I've got some blueprints you might like to see." After running to his room to retrieve Boq's blueprints, he showed them to the ironsmith. His eyes widened.

"I can't do something that advanced!" he gawked. "And it looks too heavy for someone to wear."

"Don't worry, I only want to improve a few aspects of the designs," he said, picking up a nearby pen. "such as this, this, this, and _this,_" he said while sketching over the blueprints. Hunk then turned them around for the ironsmith to see.

The ironsmith smiled. "Oh yeah, I like that! I'll have it ready to go in a few days!"

* * *

Ferior finished his final rounds through the lower levels of the prisons, doube-checking to make sure everything was "secure." He started to head back towards the exit and another guard met up with him and walked with him.

"Hello, Ferior," the other guard said.

"Hello," Ferior said simply.

"Everything locked up tight?"

"Of course. Doube checked them just now."

They walked in silence for a while before the other guard spoke up again.

"Hear any news about the escaped prisoners?"

"Nothing," Ferior said, sounding frustrated.

"Morribe suspects a mole."

Ferior's heart jumped, but just raised an eyebrow. "Really? Who?"

"She hasn't pinned anyone down in particular yet, but she's on edge more than ever. And I also wanted to give you a warning: you better be careful, cause she'll throttle anyone who seems the least bit suspicious."

"Are you accusing me?" Ferior asked angrily.

"Of course not," the guard said calmly. "But you do have a lot at stake here. I mean, Morribe does have your entire family locked up."

"Do you think I'm stupid enough to attempt anything that can endanger my own flesh and blood?!" Ferior growled.

The guard looked at him. "Those prisoners had help from the inside, there's no queston about that." He walked closer and whispered into Ferior's ear. "I know you've been helping prisoners escape."

Ferior's face remained a mask of anger, but inside his heart was beating wildly. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, and I know you're going to attempt another breakout soon with whoever you're working with. I'm not going to sell you out. But, I do want in. I want to get out of here just as much as you do." he was being earnest, too. And desperate. "I want to fight Morrible just as much as you do. Please, let me help."

Ferior sighed. "Have you told anyone?"

"No," the guard said honestly.

"Good." In a flash, Ferior had a knife in hand and stabbed the guard in the heart. He died instantly, not even having time to cry out. His eyes rolled up to the back of his head as he slumped limply to the floor.

Ferior started to drag the body away, into a secret part of the prisons where he could hide the body until he could properly dispose of it. "Sorry, but we have no more room for double agents," Ferior said partially to himself and partially to the deceased guard.

After making sure the body was completely hidden, he walked normally out of the prisons, and after checking the coast was clear, back to the barracks. This was bad, very bad. A missing guard would not go unnoticed for very long.

There was going to be a change of plans.

They were going to have to break out his family. Tonight.


	11. Freedom and Sacrifice

**Hey, guys, I'm back!! You miss me?! (silence) Ahhhhh, ok then . . . .**

**Sorry this took a while to get out there, but I had a bad case of . . . not exactly writer's block, more like I-have-to-make-sure-this-thing-is-perfect-becaue-this-chap's-gonna-be-the-shizit-mo-fo's!**

**Speaking of mo-fo's, I went to Mayhem Fest, which was totally fcking AWESOME!! Disturbed rocks!! YAY!**

**Oh my gosh, what's this?! A drama freak that's also a metal-head?! Freaky, I know.**

**Also an apology because this chap's really long. Like this Author's Note. I'll shut up now.**

**Warning: Chapter is rated at extremely high-T, or M, for graphic details (not _too_ graphic, though).**

* * *

Ferior ran as fast as he could to the stables and took the nearest horse; a black steed with white hooves. He saddled it up in record time and in less than a few minutes he was riding as fast as he could out of the city. He would be back at the barracks in under an hour if his horse could keep up the pace.

It was almost dark with the sun teetering on the horizon, hesitating to take the plunge into the darkness. The skies were an eerie mix of colors, like some haphazard artist flung his paint tray at an empty canvas and let the colors run as they may. However, a blood red color dominated the sky, almost acting as a warning - or a threat.

The horse galloped on tirelessly, across vast stretches of fields, through forests, and through the fiery remains of a village recently burned to the ground. Ferior did not dare to slow as the scent of burning flesh hung in the air and seeped into his lungs, making him gag and choke on the deathly stench.

A black shape took flight in a nearby pine tree and swooped in low next to him. Ferior glanced up at the bird and saw that it was Teriom, waiting for his return. He flew next to the galloping horse, and turned one black eye towards Ferior.

"What's the rush?" he yelled over the howl of the wind.

"Emergency change of plans! Get Fiyero and tell him to gather up everyone involved in the break out. We're going in tonight! I'll explain more when I get there," Ferior called back.

With a powerful thrust of his wings, Teriom took off into the sky to deliver the urgent news. Ferior followed close behind him, but soon he lost sight of the bird. Ferior turned his attention back to the trail. He inhaled deeply to steady his nerves. There was no going back after this.

* * *

Fiyero and Boq were waiting quietly in an empty room for Ferior when Teriom flew up, slightly out of breath. Boq knew by now that whenever Teriom was delivering news, it was either really good news, or really bad news.

"Yes?" Fiyero asked the Crow.

"Ferior is on his way, and said that there is an emergency change of plans," he said breathlessly. "We're breaking out the prisoners tonight."

"Tonight?!" Boq said loudly. "But we're not ready!"

"He'll explain more when he comes. Right now, we need to get everyone else who is involved," Teriom said calmly.

Fiyero wasted no time and immediately went to Hunk's room, where he was sleeping soundly. Fiyero shook his shoulder.

"Hunk, wake up," he said quietly.

Hunk groaned as he opened an eye and stretched. "Oh, god, what time is it?" he muttered.

"Never mind that. Come on, you gotta get up. We're doing the break out tonight."

"What?" Hunk said instantly alert. "Now?"

"When Ferior gets back, yes. We got to get you ready."

Hunk jumped out of bed, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, but he stopped by Dorothy's room before he went to get ready. He went inside to see her sleeping peacefully. He needed to say goodbye first.

He walked up to her bed and gently kissed her forehead. She slowly opened her eyes, and smiled. "Hey there," she whispered.

"Hey," Hunk whispered back. "There have been a change of plans. I'm going in the prisons tonight."

"What?" Dorothy said, leaning up on her elbow. She suddenly became very worried. "Hunk . . . oh, god Hunk, please be careful," she said, and threw her arms around his neck. He hugged her tightly, and kissed her on the cheek.

"I promise," he said. "I'll be back. Don't worry, I'll be fine."

Dorothy lowered her head, and wiped her eyes. "Ok. I trust you. Please, just be careful. I don't want to lose you."

"Hey, I'm always with you, right here," he said, pointing to her heart. "And I'll be back in your arms in the morning." He kissed her again, this time on the lips before he left with Fiyero. Dorothy whispered good-bye as he left, and tried to fall back asleep. But she was too worried about Hunk to sleep soundly. And as she closed her eyes, a familiar nightmare replayed itself in her dreams.

* * *

Hunk followed Fiyero and Boq into the armory, where an assortment of weapons and guns were already lying out on a table, waiting for their time for action. First, Fiyero handed Hunk a pair of black pants, a black long sleeve shirt, and some sturdy black boots. Hunk laughed quietly to hmself as he dressed.

"I feel like a ninja wearing all this black stuff," he said.

Fiyero only smiled uneasily. He then gave Hunk some light armor, which was also painted black. The armor consisted of a chest plate, shoulder guards, elbow guards, knee guards, and plating for the forearms. Since Fiyero was already wearing almost entirely black, he didn't have much to do except shove more knives up his sleeves and inside his jacket. When he was done, he tied a black bandana around his neck.

"We have quite a few weapons we can use," Fiyero said when everyone was done getting dressed. "First, we have the essentials: the knives. I want everyone to carry at least three. For the guns, we have pistols, rifles, and a very special one I made myself." He picked up the gun lying on the far edge of the table. It had a long thin barrel, and a small stock, but it looked deadly enough. It also had a scope on top.

"This is the next generatoin of guns," Fiyero said, holding it up. "I call it the Hawkeye. Extremely silent, fast, powerful, and deathly accurate. Can take out a guard instantly from five hundred yards. I have two of these made." Fiyero turned to Hunk. "How good are you with a gun?"

"If this Hawkeye thing is anything like a sniper, then I'd say I'm pretty decent," Hunk said.

"A sniper?" Fiyero said.

"It's a type of gun that's pretty common back where I come from. It's a lot like the gun you have," Hunk explained. "But for the other guns, they're pretty loud. A single shot will get us noticed really quick. Do you have silencers or something like that?"

"These guns here were enchanted to be absolutely silent. So noise won't be a problem." Fiyero said smugly.

Ferior then came into the armory, panting heavily and covered in a cold sweat. He looked worried and uneasy. But when he saw that everyone else was ready, he seemed to relax a little.

"Hey, Ferior," Fiyero greeted. "So why the sudden change of plans?"

Ferior hesitated. "Morrible suspects me. I had a guard come up to me just now and tell me he knew I was in on the breakouts. He wanted to 'help' me."

Fiyero shook his head. "This is bad. What did you do?"

"I eliminated the threat," he said simply.

"Eliminate?! As in _kill_?!" Boq said. "But you said the guard wanted to help! What if he was tellng the truth?"

"He wasn't telling the truth, metal head!" Ferior shouted. "He was trying to find out who I was working with and where we were hiding so he could hand us over to Morrible on a silver platter!"

"But how can you be sure?"

"Because I _knew_ him! He came on too strong and was desperate. Very desperate. I knew it the moment he started talking with me that something was wrong." Ferior said impatiently. "Now, if you guys would just shut up, we need to get going. We only have a few hours before someone notices a guard is missing, and we'll lose our chance of getting them out of that hell hole." He then pulled out a map from a pocket in his jacket and laid it on the table. "Now, my family is locked up here, over in the west cells. Boq's family is on the other side, in the farthest cell in the east chambers."

Fiyero frowned. "I haven't been down in the east chambers enough to know how to get there without getting lost. But I do know where your family is locked up." He then looked up at Ferior. "You know the entire prisons by heart. You shoud take Boq and get his famiy, and I'll take Hunk and get yours."

Ferior did not look pleased with this. "Hey, that's _my_ wife and kids! _I_ should be the one that rescues them!"

"Now is not the time to complain!" Fiyero said. "I know that you want to save them, but we have to look at the options here. Most likly, there will be more guards outside your family's cell, and, no offense, but Hunk will be better at . . . well, you know."

Hunk looked uneasy and shifted his weight between his feet. There was a moment of uneasy silence before Ferior spoke again.

"Fine. I'll do it. But," he said, turning to Boq dangerously. "You better do eactly what I say. We can't afford any screw ups," he said threateningly.

Boq met his angry gaze, not backing down. Fiyero cleared his throat.

"Alright. Let's get going. Everyone got their weapons? Good. Boq, I want you to take a Hawkeye. I'll have one on me, too. And, one last thing before we go." He took out a small round object that looked strangely similar to-

"A grenade?!" Hunk yelped. "You have a grenade on you?!"

"I have one for each of us, if something were to go wrong. This is highly dangerous and has a hundred foot blast radius. This is to be only used as an absolute last resort. These can kill the person throwing them, so I don't want you to use them unless you absolutely have to. Is everyone perfectly clear on that?"

Fiyero's voice was so serious no one would even want to question him. Everyone just nodded hesitantly as they gathered up the last of the supplies and started to plan the escape. It was simple in idea, but putting it into practice was going to be difficult. There was a tunnel that lead from the prisons to a cave near the barracks, which was the same tunnel Hunk and Dorothy escaped through. No one knew of the tunnel except for Ferior and Fiyero because Ferior dug it himself, with help from Fiyero. The tunnel would lead them into one of the more remote locations in the prisons, and from there they would split up, break out the prisoners, and bring them back to the tunnel. They would meet up at the tunnel and then they would all sneak out and plant a grenade to detonate and collapse the tunnel once everyone was out of harm's way.

"Everyone got it?" Ferior said.

"Sounds good enough," Hunk said.

Boq nodded.

With a nod, Fiyero pulled up his black bandana so it covered the lower half of his face, only revealing his deep blue determined eyes. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

The walk to the cave took a little under an hour, but the walk from the cave to the prisons iteself seemed to take an eternity. Everyone was uptight and anxios, and Fiyero would stop evey time he heard something. They were all uptight, nervous, and even downright scared. Hunk gripped the deathly Hawkeye worriedly. Even with all the practice he's had in the last few days, he still wasn't sure about himself if he was ready.

Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel. A giant rock was rolled to block the exit, but Fiyero pushed it out of the way with ease. They entered the familiar, chilling settings of the prisons, and Hunk looked around, expecting to see guards. But fortunately, there were none nearby.

"This is where we split up," Fiyero whispered through his bandana. "Hunk and I will go left, you and Boq go right."

Ferior pressed his right fist over his heart. "Fight strong."

Fiyero returned the gesture. "Live long."

Without further delay, they split up and took off down the stone corridors. Fiyero kept low to the ground as he ran, holding a rifle in his hands. Hunk followed him closely, still gripping the Hawkeye tightly.

Fiyero stopped as they approached an intersection, and pressed up against the wall. Hunk did likewise. He couldn't see more than twenty feet in front of him, but he knew that Fiyero could see everything. Fiyero silently motioned for Hunk to hand him the Hawkeye, and he did so, taking the rifle from him. Fiyero held the gun up to his face, hesitated for a few seconds, then suddenly the gun jerked and sparks shot out of the barrel of the gun. Hunk was stunned. The gun didn't even make the tiniest sound as it was fired. He epected a small pop or something, but there was nothing but dead silence. Fiyero lowered the gun and held up his hand and waved him forward. Hunk followed him down the halls, and about fifty yards from where Fiyero fired the gun was a dead guard with a quarter-sized bullet hole in the middle of his forehead. Hunk stared at the body for a moment, dazed, but when Fiyero tapped him on the shoulder, he snapped back to attention and continued to follow him into the depths of the prisons.

Fiyero looked around, then slowed, and lowered the gun, now only carrying it in one hand. Hunk took this as a sign that it was safe for the time being.

"Any more guards nearby?" Hunk whispered to Fiyero. He shook his head. Hunk breathed a sigh of relief. "How much further?"

"Not very long. Five, ten minutes max." Fiyero whispered back.

They remained silent for a while. Hunk, who was uncomfortable with silence, tried to think of something to talk about to distract him from what was happening. "What you said to Ferior, what was that? What does 'fight strong, live long' mean?"

"It's a salute we use in the guard to wish a comrade good luck in an upcoming mission. It was also the motto of one of the greatest generals in history. 'Fight strong, live long' were also his last words before he died in battle a long time ago."

"Who was he?"

"My great-great grandfather."

"No kidding?"

Fiyero suddenly stopped and shoved Hunk up against the wall. Hunk instantly became alert, listening intently to any sound, holding his breath. He heard footsteps and low voices, and they were slowly growing louder. Fiyero held up his hands to signal to him. Two guards, coming our way. Stay silent, and ambush when within range.

Hunk's heart started to beat wildly as the voices and footsteps grew louder and closer. He could just begin to make out distinct words, but his mind didn't comprehend what they were saying. The only thought in his mind was that he was going to have to kill someone very soon.

He could now see the guards' silhouettes in the dim light, still coming closer. Fiyero pressed up against the wall a little more, and Hunk carefully took out his knife hidden in the back pocket of his pants. He gripped it tightly, and felt his hands begin to shake. Closer and closer the guards came, and amazingly, they didn't even seem to notice them. In fact, they walked right past them without slowing.

Fiyero stealthily snuck up behind one of the guards, and Hunk followed the second one. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Fiyero's free hand counting down the moments until they struck.

Four. . .

Three. . .

Two. . . .

NOW.

Hunk sprung into action, clamping his hand over the guard's mouth and slipping his knife in between the ribs. The guard flailed wildly, but for only a second before he went limp. Hunk carefully placed the guard on the floor and removed his knife. The blade was covered in blood, and a small pool of the red liquid started to grow around the body. Hunk started to gag.

"Oh shit," he moaned. He collapsed onto the ground and started to dry heave. Pain erupted in his stomach as it contracted and tightened, and his throat started to stretch and close shut. Soon Hunk was gasping for breath, barely able to breathe, yet still trying to vomit. Fiyero was instantly at his side with a silver container in his hand.

"Drink this," he said urgently.

Hunk took the container and tried to swallow it, and amazingly, as soon as the warm liquid touched his mouth, his throat opened up again and the spasms in his stomach stopped. Hunk panted heavily for a while and drank some more of the liquid before giving it back to Fiyero. "Oh, Jesus, that was awful," he groaned.

"First-kill sickness," Fiyero said with a nod. "I've seen it happen a lot before. No one is ever born used to killing. It was to be expected."

Hunk glared at Fiyero angrily. "Thanks for the heads-up, you bastard."

"If I told you, you would have had it a lot worse, believe me," Fiyero shot back quietly.

Hunk was silent for a moment, still staring at the dead guard. "Well . . . I . . . thanks," he muttered.

"Let's keep moving," Fiyero whispered, and started off into the corridors again. Hunk followed him after carefully wiping off the blood on his knife on the guard's uniform.

"Will it happen again?" Hunk asked worriedly.

"Rarely. Let's just hope we won't have to find out."

* * *

Boq gazed through the scope of the Hawkeye, placing the crosshairs on the guard's head. If he had a real heart, the sound of his pulse would have been deafening in his ears.

"Do you have him in your sights?" Ferior whispered in his ear. Boq gave a small nod. "Then slowly pull the trigger. Don't let the gun jerk too much when it recoils."

Boq did so while exhailing raggedly. The gun jerked as he pulled the trigger, and sparks shot out of the barrel as it silently fired the bullet. And Boq could see the back of the guard's head explode with a red color, and the guard fell to the floor lifelessly. Boq lowered the gun, his hands slightly shaking.

"Nice shot," Ferior whispered. Boq only lowered his head and shook shamefully. That was the third guard he's killed so far. And even though he no longer had a stomach, he still felt sick and weak. He wasn't used to doing this, damn it. He couldn't live with himself for murdering these people. Sure, they were Morrible's little pawns, but wasn't Ferior? What was the difference between Ferior and the people he was shooting down like pigs? Hell, what was the difference between _him_ and the people he was slaughtering? Surely the guards were forced into doing this, or were under the influence of Morrible's spells. There was no way they were doing this out of choice. But then again, there was Malnor, that sick bastard . . .

Boq shook his head once more before following Ferior down the prisons. They were getting close, that much he knew. As his feet quietly clicked against the stone floor, he sighed heavily.

"This is wrong," he whispered. "I can't keep killing these guys. I can't take it."

Ferior slowed and looked over his shoulder at him. "I'm sorry that you're uncomfortable with this, but there's no other option. Remember, you're doing this for your parents."

Boq sighed. "I wonder if my brother is also with them."

Ferior looked at him. "You have a brother?"

"Yes. An older one. His name is Lance. Haven't seen him in years."

"How are you going to tell them?"

Boq was so shocked at the abrupt statement at the question he couldn't respond for a moment. "I don't know. Probably when we get back to the barracks and out of harm's way."

"It'll surely be a shock for mommy to find out her little boy is now a terrifying man of metal," Ferior muttered.

Boq glared angrily at him. "I'm not intimidating!"

Ferior gave him a skeptical look, one eyebrow raised. He didn't say anything else for the rest of the way up to the cell. As they approached, they saw two guards standing outside the iron doors of the cell. Inside was an older looking woman with matted brown hair clutched in the arms of a man with black wavy hair, the woman sobbing in the man's arms. A younger man, about a few years older than Boq, sat off to the side, his battle worn brown eyes glaring dully at the floor, his arms wrapped around his knees.

"Mom, dad, Lance . . ." Boq muttered. Then the woman started to yell at the guards.

"Please! Just tell me where my son is!! I know you have him! Where is he?! Why aren't you telling us anything?!" the woman sobbed. The guards just ignored her, glancing at each other with annoyed looks.

Ferior looked at Boq. His face was twisted with pain, and his grip threatened to shatter the Hawkeye. His steel eyes also burned with rage and hatred. The woman continued to cry.

"Where is Boq?! Oh please, just tell me if he's even _alive_! He's never done anything wrong! He would never do anything, never hurt a fly!" She continued to sob.

"Shut the fuck up, you whore!" one guard finally yelled, rapping his spear against the iron bars of the cell. The woman recoiled. Boq was burning with rage, and Ferior could see it was taking all of his self control to not go hurtling at the guard. "We don't know where the fuck your son is! He hasn't been seen in years! Ever since that Witch of the East got flattened, he's been gone! So shut the fuck up or we _will_ go out, find him, and bring his head back for you!"

The woman looked in horror at the guard, and buried her face in her husband's arms and quietly cried.

"Ready?" Ferior whispered.

Boq only stared hatefully at the guards. Ferior took that as a yes.

"Then follow me when I give the signal." Feror then walked out in the open and approached the two guards casually. "Hey, bastards, what do you think you're doing, harassing the prisoners?" he said venemously to the guards. The guards only looked at him.

"The hell do you want?" one of them said.

"I'd like you to meet a friend of mine." Ferior said calmly. With that, Boq charged out of hiding and hit one of the guards at full force, knocking him in the air and slamming against the far wall. The guard was instantly knocked out. In the meantime, Ferior slipped a knife into the heart of the other guard, killing him instantly, giving neither of the guards time to call out a warning.

Boq inhaled deeply, calming his rage, then went over to the cell's doors. He clenched his hand into a fist and with a powerful punch he knocked the lock clean off the doors, and they swung open. The prisoners only stared at them, dumdfounded.

"You're the Tin Man!" Lance said quietly, staring at Boq. He nodded.

"We're here to get you out of here," Boq said to them.

"Oh, praise the Unnamed God, thank you, Tin Man!" his mother weeped, her face covered in a huge smile. "The only way this could possibly get better is if you knew where my son is!"

"Actually, we do," Boq said hesitantly. His mother cried out with joy and his father gave a small smile. Lance grinned happily.

"Where is he?" Lance asked.

"We need to get you out of here and into safety first," Boq said. "Then I'll tell you everything."

Just as Boq was unlocking the cuffs on his family, the guard started to regain consciousness. _Ferior's a traitor! Ferior's a traitor!_ He needed to set off the alarm!

_Ferior's a traitor!_

* * *

Two guards were standing outside the cell containing Ferior's wife and two children, one was a girl about two years old, one only an infant. Fiyero signaled to Hunk, and they slowly approached them, knives in hand. Once the guards turned their backs on them, Fiyero and Hunk lept into action and ambushed them, quickly slicing their throats before they even knew what hit them. Blood gushed everywhere, but at least the guards were dead. The woman leapt to her feet, clutchng the baby tightly in her arms, and the two-year-old girl hugged her mother's leg, her eyes wide with fear. She started to sniff and cry softly as she buried her head into her mother's filthy dress. The woman stared at them, terrified.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"We're here to help," Hunk said softly. "We're friends of Ferior. We're here to get you out of this place."

The woman allowed her face to relax and she slumped to her knees, eyes wet with tears of joy. "Thank God," she whispered. "And thank you."

Fiyero picked the lock and had it open in seconds. The woman comforted the little girl as they came out of the cell. Fiyero looked around, then looked back at the woman.

"We need to keep as quiet as possible. Can you do that?" The woman nodded. Fiyero then knelt on one knee and looked the girl in the eye. "Can you be super quiet for me? For your daddy?"

The little girl's eyes were still wide with fear, but she gave a small nod.

"Alright. Let's get out of here before something goes bad-"

Just as he said that, a loud screechng siren filled the air, wailing loudly. Hunk looked around uneasily. The siren was also filled with someone's voice, broadcasting throughout every depth of the prison.

"FERIOR'S A TRAITOR! FERIOR'S A TRAITOR! PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING! PRISONERS ARE ESCAPING! _FERIOR'S A TRAITOR!!_"

"What's going on!?" Hunk yelled over the wailing siren.

"The others were caught!! RUN!!"

* * *

Ferior sliced the guard's neck, killing him instantly, but the damage had been done. He had set off the alarm and now the entire prisons will be full with guards in a matter of minutes. He turned angrily to Boq.

"You stupid bastard! I fucking told you to kill every single goddamned guard we came across! Now look what you've done!!" Ferior roared.

"Let's just get the hell out of here!" Boq yelled, and with that, he took off back into the prison corridors, with Ferior and Boq's family trailing closely behind him. Suddenly, he heard a cry of pain from behind him. Turning around, he saw the woman limping.

"My leg! I think my leg is broken!" she cried out.

Not wasting a second, Boq turned around sharply on his heels and scooped her up in his arms and continued to bolt down the prisons. Lance and the father were running right next to Ferior, with Boq in the lead. Ferior's heart beat wildly, not just from the sprint, but also out of fear. Were Fiyero and Hunk able to get his family out in time?

"There they are!" a voice suddenly said.

Ferior turned his head to the side and saw three guards running towards them from a side corridor. They had their guns out, and attempted to shoot him. As they shot at Ferior, Boq lept in front of him and the bullets thunked off his steel body harmlessly. They continued to run, now with the guards hot on their trail. Boq dropped back to block them from the rear, and any shots they fired hit Boq in the back, bouncing off and out of harm's way. Boq occasionally tried to turn around and shoot back at them, but he couldn't accurately shoot at guards behind him while he was running and carrying his mother at the same time. But he did manage to hit all three of them, and although while they weren't fatal shots, it did slow them enough to lose them.

They were near the tunnel exit, and Ferior was happy to see that Fiyero, Hunk, and his own family were there safely. Ferior ran up and kissed his wife passionately on the lips and hugged her tightly.

"Thank god you're alright," he whispered. "Now let's get the hell out of here!"

Hunk was looking uneasily back over his shoulder. "We're not going to make it! There's dozens of guards coming! We won't stand a chance! We'll be shooting ducks in the tunnel!" He turned to Fiyero. "Get them out of here! I'll keep the guards away long enough so you can get a good head start!"

Fiyero's eyes widened. "No! It's too dangerous! You're going to get killed!"

Hunk grabbed Fiyero's arm. "This isn't the time to argue! Get them out of here! They need you! I'll buy you time."

"You made a fucking promise to Dorothy!" Fiyero yelled. "What about spending the rest of your life with her?! What about _her_?!

Hunk's face fell, and pain covered his features. "Tell her I love her so much. And it's because of her I'm doing this!" Hunk, without a further word, bolted off in the direction of the approaching guards.

Fiyero roared in frustration. With no further option, he forced everyone into the tunnels. Boq was hesitating.

"We have to go back and help him!" he shouted. "We can't let him do this!"

"We must! Otherwise his sacrifice will be in vain!" Fiyero said. Boq gave a cry of anger and followed the others into the tunnel. Everyone was running as fast as they could in the cramped tunnel, with Boq still carrying his mother. Fiyero glanced back over his shoulder. He prayed with all his might Hunk would make it.

* * *

Hunk saw the guards quickly approaching him. They had already seen the tunnel entrance, and he knew that he would never make it back to the barracks. He then pulled out his last resort: his grenade. He pulled the pin and threw it into the tunnel's entrance and without a backwards glance charged at the guards, gun drawn and firing wildly. He then flattened himself against the ground a millisecond before the grenade went off. There was an enormous explosion as a flurry of fire and blasts of dirt flew in all directions. The ground shook, rattling the very foundations of the prison, dirt and dust falling from the ceiling. Hunk looked back around and saw that the grenade accomplished its mission: the tunnel caved in, and large heavy stones and boulders fell around it, making it impossible to detect where the entrance to the secret tunnel had once been.

Hunk turned back around and saw the guards surrounding him, their spears and guns pointed right at him. Hunk closed his eyes and awaited for someone to pull the trigger. It never came.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a familiar voice drawled. Hunk opened his eyes. The guards parted, and a man stepped into view. It was Malnor. Hunk glared hatefully at him.

"It seems to me that we have ourselves an escapee. Now, what should we do with this piece of shit?"

"Give him to me!" another voice hissed angrily. "I know what to do with the likes of him!"

Hunk turned around. There, standing off to the side, was Madame Morrible.

"You're going to regret the day you escaped from my prisons!" she said coldly. She took a spear from a nearby guard and hit him in the temple as hard as she could. Hunk blacked out as his head slammed on the stone floor.

_Dorothy, I'm so sorry . . ._

* * *

"NO!!"

Fiyero gaped in horror as the tunnel behind him collapsed, permanently sealing off them from the prisons . . . and Hunk.

"Goddamn it, NO!" Fiyero tried to dig through the dirt, back to Hunk. He needed to save him! He couldn't let his friend die! No! No! This couldn't be happening! God damn it, NO!!

Boq clutched his arm. "There's nothing we can do for him!" Boq said, his eyes wet with oily tears. "We have to get back to the barracks, or else Hunk's sacrifice would have been in vain!"

Fiyero lowered his head and remained silent for a moment. "Go," he finally said. "You know your way back. I'll catch up."

Boq looked at Ferior, and Ferior hesitantly continued on, everyone following him slowly, reluctant to leave their fellow comrade behind and in the mercy of the prison guards.

When Fiyero was relatively alone, he took out Hunk's wedding ring. The ring he planned on giving to Dorothy. And the ring he gave to him . . . as insurance.

He clutched the box tightly, his fists shaking as he pounded the dirt. God damn it!

_Now you will never be able to give it to her! Now you'll never be able to be with her again! Why?! What were you thinking?! _

With a heavy heart, he trudged back up the tunnel, to the barracks.

How the hell was he going to tell Dorothy?


	12. When Hearts Are Shattered

**ZOMG, I really hated writing this chapter. I don't know what it was, but I just had a really hard time writing this. But . . . I guess it's ok. I'm still not a hundred percent satisfied with how it turned out . . .**

**HUGE THANK-YOU GOES OUT TO LADY TIGGULAR FOR BETA-READING!! Here's your virtual chocolate cake!**

**And also huge thanks to all of those who have been faithful reviewers! You know who you are! Chocolate-chip ice cream for you guys!**

**Please read and review! This time, I'm handing out brownies. With vanilla ice cream. And hot fudge! **

**(You can tell I'm kinda desperate, can't cha? XD)**

--

_"I won't betray her! I won't tell you!"_

_The guards continued to advance on the prisoner, who was tied up and completely defenseless against the guard's fury. They raised their weapons high into the sky and brought them down to punish the prisoner._

_Screams full of pain and anguish filled the air . . ._

Dorothy woke suddenly, screaming. She was covered in a cold sweat, and shaking violently. The dream was so vivid . . . though she never saw the face of the prisoner, she knew that it was Hunk. The guards had him cornered, they were torturing him mercilessly! He was dying, they were killing him!

_Dorothy, calm down! It was just a dream! Hunk will be fine! He'll be back soon._ _It's alright, just calm down_, she thought to herself. But no matter how many times she kept reassuring herself, she couldn't fall back asleep. The nightmare had her on edge, and she was too nervous to delve back into a peaceful sleep. Restless, she pulled off her nightgown and slipped on a shirt and some pants, and walked around the barracks, anxiously waiting for their return. She sat in the main chamber, where Fiyero and the others would return.

She sat on a chair, rocking back and forth, nervous and terrified. But she didn't know why. Hunk would be alright, Fiyero and Ferior were with him. They would know what to do if anything went wrong. But why was she still so terrified?

She heard soft footsteps coming from behind her. She turned around to see Osio walk up to her, yawning widely. He looked exhausted. With a heavy sigh, he sat down on his haunches next to her.

"Dorothy, what are you doing up?" he asked.

"I . . . I had a bad nightmare and couldn't get back to sleep." Dorothy said uneasily. "Besides, I'm too worried to sleep peacefully anyway."

Osio nodded. "That's understandable. I would be, too."

They sat in silence, Dorothy unconciously running her hand through Osio's mane. She continued to pet him nervously for a while, and Osio rested his head in Dorothy's lap.

"I hope they're alright," Dorothy finally said shakily.

Osio closed his eyes. "I'm sure that everyone is ok."

* * *

Everyone was _not_ ok. Fiyero's mind still scrambled to comprehend what happened. He closed his eyes as he remembered what happened only an hour or so ago. As he and Hunk ran back to the tunnel, guards streamed in out of nowhere. They were able to outrun them to the tunnel, but there was no chance that they could get inside and to safety. Hunk did the only thing he could; he was able to buy Fiyero and the others enough time to get at a safe distance before he collapsed the tunnel. And trapped himself in the prisons in the process.

If he wasn't dead by now, he would be very soon.

Ferior was livid with rage, and Boq couldn't have looked more heartbroken. No one spoke as they slowly walked back to the barracks. Fiyero hoped that there was still some minute chance that they would be able to break back in and try to resue Hunk, but with the tunnel collapsed, Ferior's true alliance revealed, and Morrible alerted, there was now no chance of trying to save Hunk.

Ferior's wife, Salina, tried to soothe Ferior's anger, but he wouldn't listen. He took Hunk's loss very hard, and was constantly blaming himself. And Boq.

"If that stupid son of a bitch would listen to me and did what I told him to, he woudn't be dead!" Ferior said loudly.

"Hush," Salina said quietly. "This isn't the time. Besides, we don't know if he's dead yet-"

"He will be! All thanks to that trash can!"

"Don't you insult me like that!" Boq yelled back.

"Both of you, SHUT UP!" Fiyero said. "Bickering like children will not help the situation! Now both of you, _get a grip_."

Ferior eyed Boq angrily. They continued down the tunnel in absolute silence. Not even Boq's family wanted to speak out, and his mother kept limping onwards without complaint, with her husband helping her all along the way. After a while, Ferior calmed down enough to comfort Salina. They were thankful to finally be together, but Ferior couldn't fully appreciate being reunited with his family. He was too racked with guilt.

They emerged out of the cave and started to walk back to the secret entrance of the barracks. The barracks were located in a remote mountain range, safe from any passing guards or scouts. The entrances were also very well hidden, and constantly guarded by Animals. The sky was starting to grow light, with sunrise still a few hours away. And the closer they got, the more nervous Fiyero became. He still wasn't sure how he was going to explain to Dorothy what had happened.

But he knew he couldn't stall forever. They reached the entrance to the barracks far sooner than Fiyero liked, and with a deep breath, he went inside, followed by Ferior, Salina, Boq, ad his family. Fiyero then remembered that Boq still hadn't told his parents who he was, yet.

This day was going to be very interesting.

When they got inside, Fiyero was shocked to see that Dorothy was already awake and waiting for them to return. There were huge bags under her eyes and her long brown hair was a mess, a clear sign that she had very little, if any, sleep. Osio was also sitting with her.

When she saw them, she rose to her feet and ran at them, her eyes a mix of fear, joy, and anticipation. She threw her arms around Fiyero and hugged him. Fiyero could feel himself start to fall apart. Her heart was going to shatter when she found out . . .

"Thank God you're back!" she said happily. "Where's Hunk?"

Fiyero pulled her away from him and looked at her sadly. "Dorothy, there's something I need to tell you. Please sit down."

Dorothy reluctantly sat back down in her chair, and instantly she knew that he was about to tell her something terrible. "What's wrong?" she demanded.

Fiyero turned around and looked at Ferior and Boq. Ferior lowered his head, and Boq took a few slow steps next to Fiyero. Boq's eyes were wet with tears.

"Dorothy, I'm so sorry . . ." Boq said softly. "But . . . Hunk . . . Hunk was caught in the prisons. He didn't make it back."

Dorothy's eyes grew with fear and sadness, and tears fell from her eyes. "What happened?" she whispered again, further demanding an explanation.

"A guard tripped an alarm. They were everywhere, and we would have never made it back, had not Hunk gone out and stalled the guards," Fiyero said sadly. "Hunk collapsed the tunnels before any of them could follow us. He sacrificed himself to save us."

"And it's all thanks to that metal-head for not killing the guard that set off the alarm in the first place!" Ferior growled. Salina jabbed him in the ribs harshly, but Ferior just continued to glare at Boq.

Dorothy looked up at Boq. She then collapsed, sobbing into her hands as her elbows rested on her legs. "Oh God! No! This can't be happening! It can't be true! NO! Hunk promised! He promised me that he would be back! He promised me that he would be alright! NO!!"

Boq tried to comfort Dorothy, but she only shoved him away. "It's your fault he's dead!"

"Dorothy, he may not be dead! All we know is that he's been recaptured. He can still be alive!" Boq said quickly, trying to suppress the rising sense of guilt welling up inside of him.

Dorothy looked back up at him angrily. "You're wrong!" she said. "They'll kill him the first chance they get!" She stood up and ran out of the room, crying. She ran back to her room and slammed the door, locking herself in, and started to slowly drown on her tears of grief.

Hunk was gone. How could he be gone? This wan't fair! How could this happen?!

She wiped away her tears and just sat in her room, holding herself. She had never felt more alone in her life.

Hunk, her best friend, her lover, was gone.

* * *

No one spoke as they watched Dorothy run back to her room, crying her eyes out. Osio shook his head.

"Well, that went well," Osio said bitterly. He glared up at Ferior. "Was that necessary? Did you need to blame him for that?!" he said, jerking his head in Boq's direction.

"It's the truth!" Ferior snapped. "I told him to eliminate every guard we crossed to avoid something like this! But did he? No! He's too much of a coward to do what is necessary!"

Osio rose to his feet. "Not willing to murder is the farthest thing from being a coward!" he roared.

"No, he's right," Boq said suddenly and very quietly, hardly louder than a whisper. "It's all my fault. I am responsible."

Everyone was silent for a moment, just as Elphaba and Glinda ran into the room. But before anyone spotted them, Elphaba pulled off into a side room, out of view, and urged Glinda to go on ahead without her. Fiyero saw this, though, and shot Elphaba a questioning glance. Elphaba only shook her head, a clear indication that now wasn't the best time to tell the new arrivals that she was really still alive.

When Glinda came into the room, Boq's parents both stared at her in shock as though they had seen a ghost. Salina didn't look too surprised; Ferior must have told her most of what has been going on.

"Glinda! Your Goodness! You're still alive! We've been told you were dead!" Boq's mother cried with joy.

"Well, that Morrible woman had better get her facts straight! I am perfectly fine, and alive and well, thank you very much!" Glinda said with a huff.

Fiyero laughed. "I actually think it's better if people thought you were dead. Just imagine how her guards would react if they saw a ghost!"

"That isn't funny," Glinda said, folding her arms across her chest. "Now what's going on? I heard someone yelling. What happened?" She looked around. "And where's Hunk?"

Fiyero and Boq exchanged glances as they retold Glinda what they told Dorothy, about how Hunk was recaptured. Glinda listened intently, and although she was still groggy from sleep, her reaction was immediate horror and disbelief as her eyes grew wide with grief. Unable to see someone else torn by his mistake, Boq quietly slipped out of the room without anyone noticing to go find an empty room and wallow in his grief.

"Oh, that's terrible! We need to get in there and save him!" Glinda said urgently.

"Glinda, we can't," Fiyero said reluctanty. "The prisons are nearly impenatrable. And now we no longer have someone on the inside to help us out. I'm sorry, but now, there's nothing we can do for him. I hate to say it, I really do, but he's on his own now."

Ginda lowered her head sadly. "Oh, poor Dorothy. She must be so upset."

"Yeah," Fiyero agreed. "She's a mess." He lowered his voice so only she could hear him. "She's a little angry at Boq, because Ferior said it was his fault that the guard was able to set off the alarm."

"But it's not . . ."

"I know, but Boq's feeling really guilty right now. He also believes it's his fault. Maybe you should talk to him."

"Ok," she said, then looked around. "But, where is Boq?"

* * *

Boq was able to find an empty room a ways off from where everyone else was. He needed some time alone. He couldn't take all the guilt. He was responsible for Hunk, there was no doubt about it. And his parents . . . god, the last thing he wanted to do was explain to them that he's been hiding from them for the last half-decade.

But he didn't know that his mother saw him leave, and had followed him, limping painfully on her injured leg.

Boq suddenly felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see his mother looking at him.

_Oh, God, please . . . not now,_ he thought desperately.

"I know this isn't a very good time," she said quietly. "But I need to know where my son is. I haven't seen him in years! Please, could you tell me where he is?"

Boq was torn. His mother's eyes were wet with tears and she looked at him pleadingly. He didn't want to tell her, he couldn't tell her.

No, he was wrong about that. He _had_ to tell her. It wasn't right of him to keep lying to her. She didn't deserve that. She was his mother, for god's sake.

He inhaled a shaky breath. "Your son . . . is standing right in front of you."

His mother only looked at him in confusion, then her eyes grew very wide. "What . . . ?"

"It's me, mom," he said hardly louder than a whisper. "I'm Boq. I'm the Tin Man."

He lowered his head and stared down at his feet. He couldn't bear to see her reaction.

"Boq . . .? Is that . . . really you?" she said, her voice cracking. Boq looked up and met her eye. She was crying now, clasping her hands in front of her face. Boq could see that she was afraid . . . his own mother was afraid of him! He lowered his head and tears leaked from his own eyes. He clenched his fists and they shook with anger. Anger at himself. For what he was.

Then, suddenly, she ran at him, throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. She buried her head in his shoulder and sobbed mercilessly. Boq stiffened. He was afraid to touch her, to hold her, to wrap his cold unforgiving arms around her. Now more than ever, he hated himself.

"After all these years, after almost thinking you were dead, you were alive, and standing in front of me the whole time!" she cried. She then let go of her embrace and looked Boq in the eye. "How could you lie to me like that?!"

The question was like a slap to his face. He felt guilt well up inside of him, but his anger began to build. Soon, he wasn't just angry at himself. He was angry at her. How could she not understand what he was going through?!

"How could I lie to you?" Boq repeated quietly, his voice full of anger. "I had no choice!"

"Horse crap! You did have a choice! You took the coward's way out! Instead of admitting to this, you decided you could run away from your problems and hope everything would work out!"

Boq grabbed her arm and forced her to look him in the eye. "LOOK AT ME! Do you even see what I am now?! I couldn't bear to tell you what I had become! Damn it, even _I_ can't bear to look at myself in a mirror!" His grip tightened on her arm. "How could you accuse me of being a coward?!"

"You're hurting me," she whimpered.

Boq looked down at her arm he was grabbing. He was gripping her arm so tightly that his sharp joints in his hand actually cut her arm. He let go of her and saw cuts all across her arm where he had grabbed her. His own hand was covered with her blood.

He couldn't even feel it. He had no idea that he had actually hurt her. He didn't mean to! He clenched his fist as the blood on his hand dripped to the floor.

"I . . . I'm so sorry." he said. "I . . . had no idea that . . . oh, god damn it!" He collapsed against the wall and and fell to the ground. He put his elbows on his knees and buried his head in his hands. "I hate this! I can't feel anything! I can't feel you, I can't hold you without hurting you, I hate this!" He sobbed into his hands. "I'm nothing but a heartless machine!"

His mother knelt beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. Boq looked up at her, and she had tears in her eyes, not angry tears, but tears of grief.

"I'm sorry, Boq," she said. "I'm sorry for getting angry at you. It's not fair to you." She paused. "You never were comfortable with a sudden change."

"You can say that again," Boq said sourly.

"But, machine or not, you are my son, and I will always love you, no matter what." She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him. She then kissed his cheek, and Boq slowly placed a hand around her waist.

They sat in silence, Boq staring at the ground, and his mother carefully studying him.

"Why is it so hard for me to accept what I am now?" Boq muttered, more to himself than to her. "It's been five years. You think I would be used to it by now. But every day that I look in a mirror I'm still horrified to see a metal face looking back at me."

His mother didn't know what to say. There was nothing in her previous life experiences that could have prepared her for something like this.

"I think you lack self-confidence," she said slowly. "You need to realize that you are still who you always were. Nothing has changed about you. You may have a different body, but you're still the same smart, compassionate boy you've always been."

Boq sighed. "It's not that easy," he said. "I'm _not_ the same person."

"Only because you won't accept it," she said.

Boq studied her. "Why are you always right about everything?"

"Because that's what mothers excel at!" she said cheerfully.

Boq smiled. She was happy to finally see his smile again and hugged him tighter.

"When's the last time I've seen you smile?" she teased.

"Probably more than five years ago, when I was finally big enough to beat Lance in a wrestling match," Boq said with a hint of sarcasm, but still smiling.

"Well, now he'll have to watch his back around you," she said. "I don't think he can kick your ass around anymore."

"He never kicked my ass that badly . . . did he?"

His mother laughed. "See? You're still the Boq I used to know."

His smile widened. "Thank you . . . for that. I'm glad that we're finally together."

"No more secrets, got it, mister?" his mother said teasingly.

"Ok, mom."

* * *

Boq and his mother came back out into the main hall, where everyone else was, and they both looked surprisingly happy. Fiyero could tell that Boq had just fessed up to his mom. And from the looks on their faces, it went pretty well. All things considered.

"So, where did you run off to?" Fiyero asked.

"I needed some time to think about a few things," he said with a smile. His mother held his hand tighty, beaming with joy. "Now, I need to tell my dad and brother."

"I'll help," his mother said kindly.

"Thanks, but I think I can tell them myself." He walked up to Lance and his dad. "Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?" He pulled them off to the side, and now he was ready to tell the rest of his family.

"I have some news about your missing son." Boq said, with his mother smiling mschieviously off to the side. Boq inhaled deeply. "I am Boq."

"Come again?" Lance said in disbelief.

"I am Boq. I was turned into the Tin Man because I was dying. Well, actually," he added hastily. "I'm made of steel now. The tin got all rusted, and we had to replace it."

Both Lance and his father remained silent, staring at him with dumbfounded expressions. Lance coughed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, I have to admit I did _not_ see that coming," Lance said uncomfortably. "Dude, you got _screwed over_. Being stuck in a metal body must really suck." Boq glared at him. He forgot how much of a jerk his older brother could be. Hey, at least he was a little taller than him now.

"Lance, shush," his mother hissed.

"Boq, I can't believe it," his dad muttered, stupefied. "I . . . I'm speechless."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier," Boq said, lowering his gaze to the floor. "I was . . . well, I was afraid to tell you."

"I don't blame you, dude," Lance said. He then laughed. "I guess I can't kick your butt anytime I want anymore," he added.

"Speaking of which," Boq said with a mischievious grin. "Come here, you jerk!" Boq grabbed Lance and got him in a head lock and gave him a very painful steel-plated noogie.

"Ow! Ow! That hurts! Get off! Ow, ow! Ok, ok, uncle! Uncle!"

"Ha ha! Who got screwed over now, huh?!"

"Let go! That hurts!"

"Payback's a bitch!"

Fiyero was standing off to the side, watching, and started to laugh. It was great that Boq finally got his family back together. And they didn't seem to have a problem accepting that Boq was now made of metal.

If only his own father could accept him as readily as that . . .

Fiyero sighed. There were some things he regretted, one of them being unable to tell his own father that he was still alive. God only knows how he would react to that after he almost died of shame when he ran away with Elphaba all those years ago. Maybe he should never tell him.

No.

He remembered that promise he made to Hunk as he clutched the black velvet ring box in his pocket. He promised that he would talk to his father and tell him everything.

He _will_ keep his promise. For Hunk's sake, if for nothing else.

But he needed to talk to Dorothy first. God knows she needs it right now.

He clutched the ring box tighter. _That_, however, can wait.


	13. Reconciliation

**As always, I love reviews, so please keep them coming!**

**Oh, and I stole Desnax from Beatlesluver (Love ya!). Desnax is a final Fantasy OC that can change into animals, and Beatlesluver drew this awesome pic of her as a hyeana, and I'm like, OMG, Desnax woud be an awesome minor character! So all credit of Desnax goes to her!**

**And an apology in advance if the romance scene in here is overly sappy. I'm an action writer, not a romantisist, but I'll do my best!**

Elphaba waited patiently outside the room where Fiyero, Boq, and his parents were. When she finally saw Fiyero emerge from the room, alone, thankfully, she gently grabbed his straw-stuffed arm and pulled him towards her. Immediately, she saw that his usual warm and cheerful eyes were now heartbroken and distant. She didn't need to think hard why he was feeling so depessed.

"I'm so sorry about Hunk," she said, wrapping her arms around her waist. "I wish there was something I could do."

Fiyero hugged her tightly. "I don't suppose you can cast a spell to make him teleport here, can you?"

Elphaba shook her head slowly. "Teleportaton spells only work when the person beng teleported is the caster."

Fiyero slumped his shoulders. "I . . . I have no idea what to do . . . about Dorothy. She must be really upset."

"If there's anything I've learned, it's that people in pain need company," Elphaba said. "When I thought I lost you, I went mad there for a while. I was so wracked with guilt, anger, sorrow, and pain I . . . well, I just wasn't myself."

"Hell, I've only known him for a week or so and I'm still reeling from what's happened."

"He's quite the character." Elphaba agreed. "He reminds me of you."

Fiyero smiled. "He does, doesn't he?" He sighed. "Let's go, then. I have a feeling you may be better at this than I am."

"I don't think so. After all, I am the Wicked Witch of the West," Elphaba said with a note of bitterness.

"Hey, you're not wicked. Why do you keep saying those things to yourself? Just forget about that."

Elphaba only shook her head sternly as she followed him down through the barrack's tunnels. Fiyero didn't get it. She had to know that she couldn't be wicked, not after all she had done for him and the Animals, and everyone else taking refuge in the barracks. It was a mystery to him why she kept insisting that she was wicked. Was she still upset that she turned him into a scarecrow? How many times would he have to say he didn't care for her to get it?

But she never would; she had too much pride for that. She was too stubborn to just let something go. Elphaba had a tendency to blame herself for everything that has gone wrong, but none of this was ever her fault. Why couldn't she see that?

Maybe it was because as a child, she grew up with her father constanty blaming her for everything, from her own mother's death to her sister's dsability and everything in between. Was it possible that as an adult, she still saw herself as the source for every problem?

"Elphaba, you don't need to keep blaming yourself. And I honestly don't know why we have to keep going over this. This was all the Wizard's and Morrible's doing. Surely you must know that," he said gently, but still frustrated.

Elphaba turned towards him. "I know, it's just that I do feel responsible, and I need to make everything right. And for something like this to happen, I can't help but feel as if I am somewhat to blame. What if we completely left Oz? What if we told Glinda? What if I _did_ die? What if I was never even _born?"_

"Stop it, Elphaba! Just stop! Don't you ever doubt yourself, you are a blessing, no matter what the hell all those morons out there think. If you weren't born, well, we'd all be in a hell of a lot of trouble right now."

"But Dorothy and Hunk would have never come to Oz, and Hunk-"

"Please, Fae, please, don't think about the what-ifs. There's nothing you can do about that."

They remained silent until they reached Dorothy's room, with Elphaba still gazing absent mindedly into the distance. Fiyero hesitated for a moment before he knocked on Dorothy's door.

"Dorothy?" he called softly. "It's me and Elphaba, can we come in?"

A pause, then a slight mumble that could hve been either a yes or a no. Fiyero and Elphaba exchanged glances, and with a shrug, Elphaba opened the door and went inside, Fiyero following her.

Dorothy was sitting on the bed, with her back against a side wall and staring down at her hands, her legs pulled up close to her chest and her head resting on her knees. Her eyes were red and irritated from crying, and she looked extremely pale and fragile.

"What do you want?" she muttered, her voce barely audible to Fiyero's ears.

"We know you're in a lot of pain right now," Fiyero said sincerely. "And we're here to be with you. To get through this in one piece."

Dorothy laughed bitterly. "I will never be one piece again! Hunk's gone! He's what made me whole! I'm hollow and empty without him," she cried out angrily, fresh tears streaming down her cheeks.

Fiyero sat on the edge of the bed, and tried to make eye contact. But she refused to even look at him. But he wasn't about to give up. "Dorothy, I know how you feel. But he may still be alive. I swear to you, I will do everything in my power to find him and get him out. But I need you to do something for me."

Finally, Dorothy met his gaze with her broken eyes. "What?"

"I need you to forgive Boq. It wasn't his fault. Please, don't blame him for it."

"Well, then, who?! Who can I blame?! Don't you get it?! He's never coming back!" Dorothy started to break down and started to cry again. "That stupid bastard! He promised me! Why did he do it?"

Fiyero gave her a comforting hug, and Dorothy buried her head in his shoulder. He rubbed her back gently. "He told me that he was doing it because he loved you," he said to her. "He said that he loves you with all his heart, and that's why he was willing to sacrifice himelf to save you, and everyone else."

Dorothy wiped away her tears. "But there must have been another way . . ."

"There was nothing else anyone could have done. Please, Dorothy, it's not fair to blame Boq. Hunk did this out of choice. Because he loved you."

Dorothy inhaled a shaky breath, and was silent for a long time. "I guess you're right. It isn't fair to blame Boq." Shee then looked Fiyero directly in the eye. "But are you serious? Did he really say he loves me that much?"

Fiyero could see a spark of hope in her eyes, and found himself uncontiously gripping the ring box again. "Yes, Dorothy. I'm absolutely positive. He loves you more than anything in the world."

Dorothy smiled, her cheeks slightly flushing. She then hugged Fiyero back. "Thank you. And I trust you. And if there's anything I can do to help- anything at all- I will be more than happy to help find him."

Elphaba then took a few steps forward. "We can start by using location spells. Maybe you can help me find out where exactly he is, and then we can plan a rescue."

Dorothy instantly lept to her feet, almost knocking Fiyero over in the process. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Seeing the eagerness in the young woman's eyes, Elphaba couldn't refuse. She led Dorothy to her own room, which was covered with wooden shelves lined with hundreds of books. After quickly scanning some of the titles, she pulled out an older, dustier book compared to the others. The title was in gold letters, with _Grimmerie_ printed in the center. It was the exact same book Glinda had when she teleported her back home five years ago.

"This is only a copy of one of the most powerful spell books in Oz," Elphaba said. "No doubt Madame Morrible has taken the original from Glinda. But still, most of the spells are in here."

Dorothy looked at the strange writing splayed out in front of her, and instantly began to read some of the words. She wasn't able to completely translate it, but there were a few words she could pick out like "pain," "blood," "never," "broken," "bones," and "death."

A slow realization came over her. "This is the spell you used to turn Fiyero into a scarecrow, isn't it?" she asked.

Elphaba nodded slowly. "And for the past five years, I've searched in every spell book I could get my hands on to find a way to reverse it, but so far, nothing. I bet the reverse spell, if there even is one, is in the original _Grimmerie_." Dorothy could detect the anger and frustration in her voice, but thankfully, she went on.

"Ah, here it is. But first, we need a crystal ball. I have one right here, in fact. Now the incantation is a little tricky, so pay attention . . ."

* * *

Well, that went over better than he expected. Fiyero still sat in Dorothy's room, wondering what to do now. But the answer was obvious to him; round up some scouts and search the prisons. He knew for a fact a few trusted Rats had tunnels into Southstair. So he went out searching for them, and came across Echo once again.

"Hello, sir!" Echo chirped happily, fluttering in circles around Fiyero's head. "Was the mission successful?"

Fiyero sighed. "No, Echo, it wasn't."

Echo's leathery wings stopped flapping for a second and he nearly fell out of mid flight. "What? But what happened, sir?"

"Hunk was captured."

This time, Echo did fall, but was unhurt when he crashed onto the floor. He stared up at Fiyero in shock. "What do we do?" he asked urgently.

"I need you to find some Rats and get into those prisons. Search everywhere, leave no cell unexplored! I want a full report and some results in less that a day. Can you do that?"

Echo leapt into fight and instantly zoomed into the tunnel's depths. "Don't worry, we'll find him! We won't stop searcing until we do!" he called back.

Fiiyero felt a small ray of hope beginning to grow. Maybe, just maybe, they can rescue Hunk.

Even more determined than ever, he set off to find Osio. They needed to find the rogue clan of Animals and convince them to join him and his army. And the final phase of their plan for freedom will be set into motion.

* * *

Boq and his family sat at a table, finally together again. Boq only then realized just how much he missed them- his brother's lame jokes, his father's overly exaggerated stories, but most of all his mother's company. They were sitting at a table, eating a well deserved meal. Well, _they_ were. Being a machine, he had no need for food. He missed the sensation of eating, but he was able to grow used to it.

Yet, watching them eat and enjoy themselves, it made him wish he could still take part in a family meal.

Lance saw him staring longingly at his food. "Can't you eat?" he asked.

Boq shook his head. "I don't need to. One of the many perks of being a machine," he sighed. "I do kind of miss it, though."

They sat in an awkward silence, unsure of what to say or do. Boq shifted uneasily in his chair and adverted his eyes from his brother's stare. THey finished their meals in silence, and when they were done, they decided to go back to their rooms and get a decent rest on a real bed. Boq agreed, following them to their rooms and saying good night. Before his mother slipped into her room, she gently grabbed Boq's arm and pulled him close, giving him a loving peck on the cheek. If Boq could have, he would have been blushing violently.

With nothing else to do, he wandered around, stil uptight about recent events. He should really talk to Dorothy. But she wasn't in her room. Frowning, Boq continued to alk around the twisted caves of the barracks. And soon enough, he managed to get lost.

"Oh damn it," he muttered to himself. "Now where the hell am I?"

"Boq! Boq!"

He turned around. Behind him was Glinda, walking swiftly up to him. She looked very different wearing a simple whitish-pink dress rather than her usual formal dresses, but she was still strikingly beautiful. Boq couldn't help but repress a wide grin when he saaw her, and hugged her tightly.

"Good to see you, Glinda," he said.

"Isn't it always?" she laughed. Boq chuckled along with her.

"Thanks for fixing my mom's leg earlier," he said. Indeed, after Boq finished talking with his family, Glinda had come up and healed her leg in a flash.

"Oh, it was nothing. Her leg wasn't really broken, just sore and bruised." Glina said bashfully.

"So what? Don't think I don't notice all the little things you do for everyone. And I want to thank you for that." He bent down to kiss her forehead, and she raised her head and they kissed again on the lips.

"But, there is something we need to talk about," Glinda said seriously, pulling away. "It's about . . . about what hapened in the prisons."

Boq felt his chest tighten, and the old wounds that had barely begun to heal burst open and gripped him painfully. "Glinda, I don't want to talk about it anymore. I know I'm a failure and-"

"Boq, please, it's not about blaming you," Glinda said gently. "In fact, I could never blame you. No one can. It was an unfortunate incident that could never have been evaded."

"It could have been if I killed the guard in the first place," Boq said bitterly.

"Boq, I could never be mad at you for not killing someone!" Glinda said. "That's just not you. You're not a soldier."

"Yeah. That would be Fiyero's job."

Glinda bit her lip, unsure how to further convince him. But she let out a small smile, and cupped his face in her hands and brought his face to her. She kissed him passionately, running her hands across his body and fingering the seams and grooves scrawled in his metal skin. Boq was still for a moment, but slowly he began to return her passion, gripping her waist and pulling her close to him. Boq's cold breath on her skin sent exhilirated shivers down her back and Glinda continued to kiss him, moving from his lips to everywhere else on his face. Finally, they just stood there, arms wrapped around each other, Glinda still running her hands down Boq's back and for the first time, truly feeling him, touching him, sensing every detail about his physical existence. The way his shoulders were attached to his chest, how his neck could twist and turn with thousands of tiny pipes and wires smoothly moving up and down, back and forth, and how the plates across his chest and abdomen slid in and out of each other with every motion Boq made. Glinda could finally see the beauty in his silver-gray complexion, admiring everything there was to him. And Glinda knew full well in her heart she was deeply in love with him.

She started to giggle, and she could feel Boq shift slightly beneath her grip. "What is it?" he asked.

"Boq . . . I think- no, I _know_- I know I'm in love with you!" she said happily. "You're so beautiful in every way."

Boq shook his head. "Glinda, you don't need to lie-"

"I'm not lying. It's the truth! How can you not see how wonderful you are?" Glinda said, looking Boq straight into his silver eyes. And she meant every word of it. Glinda was madly in love with him.

Boq smiled, a tear flowing down his cheek. "Glinda . . . I have no idea what to say . . . all my life I've dreamed of this moment, and now I can hardly breathe!"

"How about you tell me how you feel?"

Boq hugged her closer to his body. "If I had a heart, I'd give it all to you. If you were the sky, I'd be the sun. If you were the night, I'd be the stars that fill it. I love you, I love you, I love you! Oh, Glinda, I can't possibly tell you how much and how madly I'm in love with you. I've fallen, and I don't ever want to get up!"

Glinda was deeply touched, and knew that they were meant for each other. And she never felt so complete in her life, not even when she was with Fiyero.

Yes, this was true love.

* * *

Fiyero carefully picked his way over the sharp rocks, hopping from ledge to ledge with the agility of a mountain goat. Teriom was perched dutifully on his shoulder, craning his head around in all directions, ever on alert for any guards. Osio, Hurontu, and a few other Animals followed him closely, making sure not to make any false steps while scaling the dangerous slopes.

It was now the dead of night, the moon completely covered with clouds, the landscape black as pitch to the human eye. Perfect conditions for a secretive meeting. The Animals with him also had no trouble seeing in the dark, but they were not used to climbing the deadly mountain passes. Osio was meant for the plains, and he was having the most trouble thus far. But he never slowed or complained, determination to help Fiyero in any way he could pushing him onwards.

"How much further?" Hurontu asked quiety.

"We're nearly there," Fiyero said. "Once we get over this peak, there's a clearing with plenty of pine trees for cover. That's where we'll be meeting."

No sooner had he said this, they topped the peak, and were standing above a valley surrounded by mountains on every side. The valley was thick with trees and undergrowth. Without hesitation, Fiyero began hs descent.

About a half hour later, they came to the forest's edge and pushed their way through the thick brush. Teriom took to flight and soared overhed between the tree branches. Fiyero scanned his surroundings, carefully noting key landscape features. Keeping as quiet as possible, they creeped deeper and deeper into the valley, and soon found themselves in a large clearing, the upper branches of the tall pines covering the night sky.

"Who are you?" a voice called out once they were in the middle of the clearing.

Fiyero tried to pick up the source of the voice, but it seemed to be coming from everywhere. "We're here to discuss the changes of the tide." he said.

"'Changes of the tide?'" Osio repeated stupidly. "Fiyero, what the hell are you talking about?"

"The tide has been disrupted. The moon is out of alignment." the voice said again.

"But a comet will put it back into place." Fiyero said again with hardly a moment's hesitation.

Osio and Hurontu exchanged baffled expressions, confused about Fiyero's strange words.

Then, a shape appeared out of the brush across from them. It was a black Wolf. The Wolf swished its tail back and forth, keeping its head low while glaring at them with its bright yellow eyes.

"Follow," the Wolf said simply.

Fiyero did so, and with a shrug, Osio, Hurontu and their small entourage followed suit. The Wolf led them deeper into the heart of the woods, and to a large cave hidden between two massive oaks. The Wolf led them inside. At first glance, the cavern appeared small and empty, but once they stepped foot inside, Osio gasped at the sheer size of the cave. It was large enough to comfortably house a hundred Elephants and thousands of other smaller Animals. He wondered how they had kept this cave hidden for so long.

The Animals stepped out of hiding, revealing themselves. There were hundreds of Animals of several species, from Wolves to Elephants to large Birds and everything in between. But one animal stepped in front of the others, clearly the leader, a Hyeana with a white tail and mane fringed with orange.

"So, you finally have shown your face, Fiyero. Or whatever's left of it," the Hyeana said with a cackle. From the pitch of its voice, Osio could tell it was a girl.

Fiyero seemed unaffended by the Hyeana's comment, and strode forward confidently. "I have a favor to ask you, my dear friend Desnax."

The Hyeana sat down on her haunches and gave him a mischievious and toothy grin. Osio did not trust the Hyeana, Desnax. He hoped Fiyero knew what he was doing.

"And what favor may that be, my prince?" she spat, heavily emphasizing the 'my prince.'

Osio grew angry at her arrogance. He walked next to Fiyero and growled, bristling the hair on his haunches and bearing his great fangs.

"You will speak to him with respect!" he growled. "Or else you will be dealing with me!"

"Osio, please," Fiyero said, waving him off. He turned back to Desnax. "I want you to join me and my army, to resist and overthrow Morribe once and for all."

Desnax cocked her head to the side and smiled. "What will you do to return the favor?"

"How about granting you freedom and equality and no longer having to hide in this damn cave?" Fiyero said with a note of anger. "Or will you refuse and just stand there while you watch innocent Cubs around you being brutally butchered in front of your very own eyes? Like your own."

There was a collective gas that rippled through the crowd. Desnax's eyes widened, but only for an instant before she returned to her indifferent mask. REmaining calm and cool, she returned Fiyero's piercing gaze.

"So be it. I will help. But my forces alone cannot assure us of victory," she said after a while. She lowered her head slightly, and Osio saw an unquestionable longing and sadness in her eyes. It was more than apparent that Desnax also lost someone to Morrible, and he felt a pang of pity for her.

"So then what do you propose?"

"Help," she said simply. The Animals behind her parted, and two enormous Animals walked forward, next to Desnax. Fiyero could hardly believe what he was seeing. The size of large horses, they had the heads, wings, and forearms of eagles, and the legs and tails of lions. Gryphons.

Fiyero was so stunned he could hardly talk. When he did manage to compoe himself, he could only look at them in bewilderment. "I thought the gryphon were extinct."

The gryphon on the left, which was black and its wings tipped with white, nodded slowly. "We've been laying low for quite some time now. After being brought to near extinction, we fled into the most remote regions of Oz and our numbers slowly grew over the past few decades."

"So there's more of you?" Osio gased.

The black gryphon nodded.

The gryphon on the right, a brown one with golden wings and yellowish tips, stepped forward also. "We have been watching from a distance, and we fully support your cause. We will gladly join you and your fight to free the Animals. We will gather our strongest warriors and join you at your headquarters."

Fiyero smiled in triumph. They had done it! With them, they might just have a chance. Their odds of winning had turned strongly in their favor.

And now, with the full support of these Animals, he needed to find Hunk.

* * *

Morrible was absolutely furious. Her sheer rage was indescribable. First, that Dorothy bitch and her friends escape and now she discovered that Ferior was against her all along. She had greatly underestimated him. It would not happen again.

The bodies of the assassinated guards were splayed before her, covered in blood, all suffering from fatal shots in the head or deep cuts across their throats. Se needed answers. And they were the only ones that knew.

She began a chant from memory, her hands swirling over the body of one of the dead guards. Black mist rained down from her hands into the guard's body, and he gasped and twitched. Morrible knew her spell would only raise the dead for a short period of time, so everything he could tell her was crucial.

"Who killed you?" she demanded.

The guard gasped and wheezed, twitching violently. Her patience began to grow thin. Her spell could only last so long.

"Who did this?!" she yelled.

"S-s-c-are-c-crow . . ." he wheezed in a voice so quiet Morrible almost missed it. "S-s-carec-crow!" Then his body went limp, Morrible's spell having run out.

Morrible was stunned. No. There was no way . . . he couldn't be alive! It wasn't possible! He was dead! She saw him burn!

And yet, didn't she think the exact same thing when he appeared at the Palace all those years ago?

Of course. How could she not have seen it before! She was a fool! How could she miscalculate?! Fiyero was alive! And quite possibly, so was Elphaba.

She left the dead guards, and marched straight to the prisons, with her personal guards surrounding her from anything. She came up to one of the cells with a prisoner inside. She took a whip from one of the guards and blasted the iron door open with a burst of magic. The prisoner was badly beaten and covered in dried blood, some from the prisoner himself, some from the dead guards. He looked at her with pure hatred.

Morrible smacked the whip against her palm as she strode in front of the prisoner and snarled coldly. "You will tell me everything. Or you will die the most horrific death you can possibly imagine."

"Do your worst, bitch. You'll never get me to talk," Hunk growled.


	14. There's Nothing We Can Do

**AUGH, another bad case of writer's block XP Mostly because I haven't given much thought into what was going to happen in this chapter. But it's ok, so here ya go.**

**PLEASE REVIEW!! They make me happy. Please?!**

**P.S. Your reviews determine Hunk's fate!!**

"Jesus Christ! Why won't this damn ball show me anything?!"

"Dorothy, calm down. This isn't a simple spell; it takes time to master."

"But the only thing we've seen so far is an unrecognizable shadow in a fog!"

"Which is much more than anyone could have hoped for on the first day. You need to be a little more patient."

"I can't be patient! Hunk's life is at stake!"

"I know, but you must relax. That's probably one of the main reasons why the spell isn't working. You must be calm and completely focused."

"I am calm."

Elphaba raised a thin eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, really," Dorothy said, hunched over the crystal ball. "Ok, one more time . . ." And once more, Dorothy recited the incantation, swirling her hands around the orb, only one thought flowing through her mind: _Show me where Hunk is, show me where Hunk is . . ._

The ball began to glow a very soft pale blue. Dorothy's heartbeat began to race with excitement and anticipation. The fog within the orb began to clear and sharpen, just enough to make out a figure, a human silouette, sitting on the ground. Color began to flood the image. Dorothy began to just barely see Hunk's features, his tan skin, his long blond hair, his-

The image in the orb suddenly went black.

"OH, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, NO!" she screamed, wanting to pick up and smash the ball against the floor. It took all her self-restraint not to.

Elphaba put a hand on her shoulder. "Dorothy! Control yourself! I know how you feel, I really do, but you musn't let your anger get the better of you!" She paused, inhaling deeply. "I know you're worried and frustrated, but you need to look on the bright side. You've made excellent progress; only one day at this spell and you can already see a recognizeable figure! We'll keep working on it tomorrow. Let's go get something to eat and rest. This is a very energy-consuming spell."

Dorothy didn't want to go. She wanted to stay here and keep practicing until she could clearly see him. But a wave of exhaustion hit her like a typhoon and she grudgingly followed Elphaba into the dining chamber.

"Where's everyone else?"Dorothy asked as she sluggishly made her way down the barrack's tunnels.

"Fiyero and Osio are gathering up some more rogue Animals, not sure where Boq and Glinda went." Elphaba said thoughtfully.

They came into the dining room, and saw Glinda and Boq sitting at one of the tables, holding hands. Elphaba gave a small smile, but Dorothy felt an emormous surge of jealousy well up inside of her. When they approached Glinda and Boq, they started kissing. Dorothy went rigid with fury.

"I see you two are having such a wonderful time!" Dorothy said to them bitterly.

Glinda and Boq jumped, and turned around to stare at her. Elphaba looked shocked at her sudden outburst as well.

Glinda blushed. "There's nothing wrong with public display of affection, is there?"

"Yeah, I mean, this is the first time we've actually gotten to spend some time with each other." Boq said, gripping Glinda's hand gently in his own tin hand.

"Have you forgotten that while you two are here, making out, Hunk's in those damn prisons rotting away, or he could be DEAD!" Dorothy screamed. "But it's more than apparent you have other priorities, right?!"

"Dorothy, you're being irrational! There's nothing we can do for Hunk!" Elphaba said. "I know you're frustrated, but don't go take it out on them!"

"Easy for you to say! You're not the one with someone's life at stake!"

"Dorothy, SHUT UP!" Elphaba yelled. Dorothy flinched and her anger turned to shock. "Stop acting like a child! You think you can come in here and vent your anger on those who don't deserve it! You think you're the only one in this situation, but you're wrong! How do you think I felt when Fiyero was out in that cornfield, dying?! You have no right to treat us with disrespect!"

There was a ringing silence. Elphaba glared angrily at Dorothy and Ginda and Boq just looked on in shock and disbelief. Dorothy finally broke her gaze with Elphaba.

"I'm sorry. You're right, I guess I'm just tired. I'm going to head back to my room and get some sleep," Dorothy said quietly. anger still in her voice. Then she walked quickly out of the dining room, keeping her head down.

Elphaba sighed and collapsed down into a chair next to Glinda, propped her elbows on the table and started to rub her temples. Glinda and Boq exchanged worried glances.

"Um . . . I'm sorry?" Boq offered weakly.

"No, no, you didn't do anything wrong," Elphaba said.

"But what . . . I'm confused." Glinda said. "What do we do?"

"I don't know, Glinda," Elphaba said. "I'm not sure we can do anything to help Dorothy."

"Can't you do the location spell for her?" Boq offered.

"I tried that already, but for some reason it wouldn't work. Most likely because I don't completely remember what he looks like."

Glinda sighed. "We could really use a break right now. It's been nothing but a run of bad luck so far."

"That's not true, we got you out of prison, we're all together now, and we finally have a chance of overthrowing Morrible and getting everything back to normal." Boq said.

"Yeah, I guess you're right about that," Glinda said. "But still . . . I wish there was something we could do for her."

"Can't you cast a spell on Hunk anyway to make sure he doesn't get hurt?" Boq asked.

"And have him turn into another scarecrow or tin man?" Elphaba said bitterly. "No. Even if I did, he would still be in Morrible's hands and he would still be killed. And . . . . if he's dead, then the spell might kill me."

Elphaba said this so calmly it took a minute for the words to sink in. When it did, Glinda gasped and Boq nearly jumped out of his seat.

"Elphie, how could you say something like that?" Glinda breathed.

"We have to face the facts, Glin," she said. "There is a chance that he is dead. It's too dangerous. It's a loose-loose situation. If I do attempt a spell and he is alive, he'll be killed, anyway. If I attempt the spell and he's dead, then the spell may rebound and kill me."

No one spoke as the harsh reality set in.

"But . . . didn't you see him?" Glinda asked quietly. "In the crystal ball?"

"That could mean anything. We only saw his figure. He could have been dead or alive."

Glinda held her head in her hands as she rested her elbows on the table.

"There must be something we can do," she muttered.

Fiyero then came into the room with a huge grin on on his face, but when he saw everyone at the table in distress, his face fell. He walked quickly up to them.

"Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Fiyero, you're back!" Glinda said, her voice a mix of shock and happiness.

He nodded. "Yeah, but what's going on? You look as if you all just saw a cat getting strangled."

Elphaba rolled her eyes at Fiyero's lame attempt to lighten the mood, and she briefly told him what had happened. Fiyero listened carefully, and when she was done, he lowered his head.

"Well, that really does suck, doesn't it?" he sighed. "I should be hearing back from Echo soon, and hopefully he'll tell us some good news."

"By the way, how did the Animal meeting go?" Elphaba questioned.

Fiyero smiled broadly. "It went great! The Animals all agreed to join us! And guess what!"

"What?" Glinda said excitedly.

"Gryphons aren't extinct! They're still alive! I saw them in the Animal hideout!"

"You can't be serious," Elphaba said, rising to her feet. "Gryphons haven't been seen for decades!"

"I saw them, Fae! They're still alive!" Fiyero said. "And they agreed to fight with us!"

"Fiyero, we can't accept that!" Elphaba said, her voice rising with concern. "They were nearly wiped out! We can't expect them to risk extinction again!"

"Not all of them are going to be fighting, you know," Fiyero pointed out. "Besides, we need all the help we can get, and a few dozen gryphons sound like a pretty sweet advantage to me."

"I still don't know," Elphaba sighed.

"Thet wanted to do this on their own free will. Who are we to deny them that?"

Elphaba looked Fiyero in the eyes and smiled. "I guess you're right."

"Of course I'm right! What do you take me for, an idiot?" Fiyero joked.

"Well, you're head _is_ filled with straw . . ."

"Shut up and get over here and kiss me, woman!"

* * *

Echo soared throught the cavernous tunnels of the prisons, keeping as close to the ceiling as he could. He scanned the prison cells below with his echolocation, but no luck. Nothing. No scent, no lead, no trace of the human lingered in the prisons. Exasperated, he turned down into another wing of the prisons and continued his search. He had personally gone through the entire prisons at least twice. But he had to keep looking.

As he rounded yet another corner, he saw a Rat pop out of an underground tunnel and motion at him. Echo landed on his legs and wings and walked towards the Rat, hoping he would have some good news.

"Yes?" Echo said.

"My friends and I have thoroughly swept the prison cells. We've looked absolutely everywhere," the Rat said distressfully. He rubbed his paws together and kept adverting his eyes from him. "We can't find him. He's nowhere in the prisons."

Echo's heart dropped to his stomach. "No! He has to be in here somewhere! Keep looking!"

"Echo, we're doing everything we can! He's not in here!" the Rat said.

"Then where?! Where else could he possibly be?"

"I don't know! Maybe Morrible is keeping him locked up in the Palace or something! But I know for a fact he's not in this prison!"

Echo sighed. "This isn't good! We must find Hunk!"

"Hunk," a weary voice said suddenly. "The name rings a bell."

Echo turned around and saw a prisoner in a cell straight across from him. The prisoner was a middle aged man that looked like nothing more than skin and bones, his hair almost completely fallen out, and his eyes were swollen and yellow. The prisoner looked at Echo, and Echo could sense that this man was no longer in his right mind.

"I knew it. Knew I won't hearin' no voices," the man croaked. "You's Animals! If Morrible catches a whiff o' ya, you's gonna be tortured like no other!" The man then began to laugh psychotically, and Echo backed away from him. He was getting a very bad vibe from him, but maybe he could also tell them something important.

"You said you knew Hunk. What do you know?" Echo pressed.

The man leered at him. "They don't feed us. They go for days without givin' us so much as a crumb. I's always hun'ry."

"Echo, let's go. This man's too far gone to be of any use," the Rat said uneasily, tugging on Echo's wing.

"No! Wait!" the man said, reaching his frail hand through the bars at them. "I seen them! I seen them take someone away!" he said, then his voice grew very quiet. "They took him far, far away!"

"Where did they take him?" Echo asked.

"Morrible knocked him out first. Pretty lil' head was all covered in his own blood," the man said, his eyes darting around crazily. "They took him . . . away."

"Where, dammit?!" Echo yelled.

"Echo, let's just go!" the rat insisted.

"Come 'ere," the man said, beckoning Echo. Echo slowly approached the man, crawling on his fingers and feet. When he was just inches away from the man's hand, the man suddeny grabbed Echo and brought him close to his face. The man glared at him. Echo could see that his deranged eyes were filled with a ravenous hunger.

_Oh, shit . . ._ Echo's mind screamed.

"They's never feed us! I's always hun'ry! You be my dinner!" the man said, his lips peeling away to reveal rotten decaying teeth. Echo screeched loudly and bit the man's hand, chomping down on his thumb with all his might. The man howled with pain and released Echo.

_I hope you get rabies, you psychotic bastard!!_ Echo yelled in his head as he spread his leathery wings and took flight.

Echo didn't waste another second as he zoomed as fast as he could back to the barracks and out of that horrendous hellhole.

* * *

Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, and Elphaba were all sitting at a table when Echo returned. Fiyero was the first to spot him. Echo immediately darted towards him . . . and flew straight into Fiyero's straw-filled body.

"Echo, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Fiyero said, looking down at where Echo had just flown inside his chest. "Get the hell out of me, now."

"No. It's safe in here," Echo whimpered fearfully.

"Echo, I have knives and bullets inside of me! Get out before you hurt yourself!"

"I'm safe, I'm safe, no more prison runs! Please! Don't make me go in there ever again!!" Echo begged. Even though the straw muffled his words, it could not hide the terror resonating through Echo's voice.

Fiyero then grew concerned. "What happened?" he asked, still looking down at his chest.

"A prisoner tried to EAT me! He grabbed me and tried to eat me!!" Echo cried out, his voice choking up with sobs. "I don't ever wanna go in Southstair again! Never!"

"Alright, Echo, I'm not going to make you go in there again, ok? I promise," Fiyero reassured. "Now could you please get out of my body? You're creeping me out."

Echo popped his head out of Fiyero's black jacket and looked up at him. "Promise?"

"Yes, I promise."

Echo then climbed carefully out of Fiyero's body and then climbed onto the table. Everyone was still staring at Fiyero.

"What?"

"That was weird," Boq muttered. "Does that happen much?"

"I hope for your sake you were being sarcastic," Fiyero grumbled. He then turned to Echo. "So, what did you find out?"

"He's nowhere in the prisons," Echo said, a slight waver still in his voice. "We've searched everywhere."

Elphaba pounded her fist against the table. "Dammit, where could he be?!"

Fiyero shook his head. "Morrible must be keeping him in the palace. He could be anywhere in there. But we can't let the Animals risk scouting the Palace, it would be too dangerous."

"So now what do we do?" Glinda asked.

Fiyero shook his head. "I don't know."

No one spoke as they sat at the table, furiously thinking of anything they could possibly do. Fiyero could see that Elphaba was getting anxious. She hated feeling helpless.

But there was nothing any of them could do for Hunk. And it was the worst feeling in the world to Fiyero.

"I'm going to just walk around for a bit to clear my head," Fiyero said, getting restless. "Maybe I can think of something."

"I'll come with," Elphaba said as well. She rose to her feet and Fiyero knew she was just as restless as he was.

Silently they walked together down the tunnels with no destination in mind. It was frustrating for all of them, knowing someone's life was on the line, yet powerless to do anything about it. Hunk wasn't in Southstair, that much they knew. But he could be in a million other places. It would be too dangerous to explore the Palace itself, which is most likely where he was. But Fiyero knew the place well enough to narrow it down. The most obvious would be right in the throne room with Morrible. The throne room was built like a fortress and had only one entrance: a thick heavy door. A perfect place to keep a watchful eye on a prisoner. Morrible would want to keep a constant eye on him, so it was obvious to him that's where he would be. But he could be completely wrong. Morrible could have him locked away in one of the many spare rooms in the Palace. It would be easy enough to guard and keep constant serveillance. Or maybe he was moved to another prison entirely.

"Any brilliant ideas yet?" Elphaba asked.

"No. Just thinking about where Hunk could be." Fiyero said.

Elphaba rubbed her eyes with her thumb and index finger. "I hate this. There's not a damn thing we can do! I hate feeling so helpless!"

"We all do," Fiyero agreed.

"So are you sure there's nothing else we can do for him? Nothing at all?" Elphaba said, gazing up at him with her deep brown eyes.

Fiyero met her gaze and could only shake his head. He couldn't think of a worse situation to be in. Having all the power one could hope for, yet powerless to do anything.

"Captain Scarecrow! Captain Scarecrow!"

Fiyero and Elphaba both turned around to see one of the ironsmiths running up to them. Fiyero recognized him immediately as one of the most skilled forgers in Neverdale.

_Great, now what?_ he thought, annoyed.

"Yes?" he asked the ironsmith.

"I've finished completing the armor your friend wanted me to make," the ironsmith said.

Fiyero shot a questioning glance at Elphaba, and she looked just as confused. "I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," he said.

"Oh, well, your friend, the guy that's always around Dororthy, he asked me to make some improvements on a coppy of some armor. Here, I have the blueprints and show you."

THe man took out a folded sheet of paper out of his pants pocket and held it out to Fiyero. He took it and unfolded it, and gasped at what he saw.

"These are Boq's blueprints!" Fiyero said. "And . . . these outlines in pencil, is that what you made?"

"Yes, sir."

Elphaba leaned over Fiyero's shoulder to look at the sketches. "Well, I have to admit, that does look intimidating."

"Do you think Boq knows?"

"Most likely not. Should we go get everyone else and tell them as well?"

"Yeah. We'll meet in the armory." He turned to the ironsmith. "That's where the armor is, right?"

"Of course! I'll get it all set up for you."

"Alright, I'll see you in a few minutes."

* * *

In about ten minutes, Fiyero, Elphaba, Dorothy, Boq, Glinda and Osio were all in the armory huddled around a very large table with a white cloth covering whatever the ironsmith had made. For the sake of surprise, Fiyero and Elphaba left out the details and simply told them they wanted to show them something. The ironsmith came up to the table, and with an excited smile, he pulled off the white cloth.

"May I present: the Tin Man's new and improved armor!" the ironsmith said proudly.

A collective gasp rippled around the room, some in awe, some in surprise. On the table were interlocking plates, most with spikes, to cover the weak joints. A pair of shoulder guards with three long spikes on each of them lay next to metal plates that covered the knees, also covered in small, sharp spikes. The elbow plates were next to the knee pads, but the main attraction of the armor were the two plates that went on the forearms. One had a shield fused to the front of the arm guard, and the other had a very long and deadly curved spike that hooked backwards, as if the ironsmith had welded a scythe blade onto the plating.

"Wow, that is _awesome_," Dorothy said excitedly.

"I don't know too much about this sort of thing, but I think it will make anyone wearing this something to be feared!" Glinda said.

"What do you think, Boq?" Fiyero asked.

Boq didn't respond at once. He only stared at the new armor, his face a complete mask and imossible to read any emotions.

"You should try it on and see how it looks," Osio said.

"I'm not going to wear it," Boq said suddenly. "Take it away and get rid of it. I refuse to put any of this on."

"And why not?" Fiyero challenged, his voice growing angry.

"I'm not a soldier! I don't want to kill anyone else! And I'm not going to put on this damn armor!"

Fiyero punched Boq in the face, sending him reeling backwards a few feet. Boq stared in shock at Fiyero's attack. When he looked at Fiyero's expression, he felt a cold chill run down his spine. Fiyero was enraged beyond words, his hands clenched and shaking with rage.

"You selfish bastard!" Fiyero yelled. "Hunk was willing to risk his own life to help us, and he's not even from here!! And you decide you're going to walk out on us because _you don't feel like it!_" he snarled. "Hunk was the one who came up with this in the first place! You better appreciate it!"

"This was Hunk's idea?!" Dorothy asked. She clasped a hand over her mouth and stared down at the armor.

"What the hell do I look like?! I'm not-"

"YOU ARE THE ULTIMATE WEAPON, DAMMIT!!" Fiyero roared. "Boq, has it even dawned on you how valuable you are?! You're nearly indestructible with no physical limits! Do you have any idea how much that could help us?!"

Boq glared at Fiyero. "Is that the real reason why you saved my life?" he said quietly.

The question caught Fiyero off guard. "No! Of course not! You are our friend! We couldn't let you die!"

"Stop feeding me the bullshit and tell me the truth!" Boq yelled.

Their gazes locked, and Fiyero took a slow step towards Boq. "We saved you because you were a friend. Nothing more, nothing less. And just to let you know, while you were laying on that table, getting electrocuted to death, the first thing I thought was 'We have to save my friend. I can't let my friend die.' I never even thought about the advantages of having you in battle until we replaced the tin with steel."

"I don't believe you," Boq growled.

"Boq, do you remember when we first met?" Dorothy whispered.

Everyone turned to look at her. Dorothy was still staring down at the armor with a hand over her mouth, and tears rimmed her eyes. Boq looked at her questioningly before answering.

"Yeah, I remember," he said uncertainly.

"You said that Nessa tried to curse you, and tried to take away your heart. At first I was horrified to hear this, thinking that no one should ever deserve something like that. But now, I can try to guess why she tried to take away your heart. You stabbed her in the back, didn't you?! You did something awful to her, right?!"

Boq's hinged jaw dropped and he tried to protest. "No! I didn't do anything!"

"LIAR!" Dorothy screamed. "You ditched her, and she loved you, you sick heartless bastard!! I don't blame Nessa one bit for what she did! If I were her, you would have been DEAD!"

"Dorothy, calm down," Elphaba said, reaching out and grabbing her arm.

"Let go of me, you lizard!!" Dorothy yelled. Elphaba released her and stared at her, stunned. Dorothy turned back to look hatefully at Boq. "You said you would help! You said you would protect those who cared about you! Well, here's your big chance! And you just throw it away! Hunk was only trying to help, and you just turn your back on everyone!" Dorothy began to cry, but she still glared at Boq angrily. "You are heartless in so many ways, it's sickening!!" She turned to leave. Before she left, she turned to Glinda and said, "Don't waste your time with him. All he thinks about is himself!" She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving a stunned and speechless crowd in her wake.

"I haven't been called a lizard since Shiz," Elphaba muttered to herself, still somewhat stunned from Dorothy's rant.

"PMS-ing much?" Fiyero also grumbled.

Glinda slapped his arm. "Shush! That's a mean thing to say! She's just really upset! I would be, too!"

"I don't think I fully understand you humans, but I would say she did over react just a little," Osio said.

"Just a little?!" Boq said. "She completely trashed me!"

"But she is right about one thing," Elphaba pointed out.

"And what's that?"

"You did turn your back on a chance to help. I know you don't like to fight, but if you did, it would make a great deal of difference. It's time to put aside whatever issues you have and do the right thing," Elphaba said.

"And what is the right thing?" Boq questioned. "To kill hundreds in the name of overthrowing one person?"

"The right thing to do is to stand up against injustice," Fiyero said. "And if it means the death of hundreds, so be it! We can't allow Morrible to continue ruling! Too many lives have been lost already!"

Boq didn't respond. Instead, he shifted his gaze back down to the armor.

"It's time to choose, Boq," Fiyero said. "Your own selfish gains, or the freedom of thousands." With that, he left, followed closely by Elphaba and Osio and the very confused ironsmith. Boq and Glinda were the only ones left in the room.

"Are you going to take Dorothy's advice?" Boq asked.

"What?! Of course not! I love you! You know that. I won't let a few angry words seperate us!" Glinda said affectionately. "But . . . I think you should fight. At least for Hunk. It would be a shame if this armor went to waste."

"I'm going to have to think about it," Boq said.

Glinda wrapped her arms around his shoulder and leaned her head against his chest. "Then I'll stay here and think with you," she said, then lifted her head to kiss Boq.

Boq hugged her, and continued to think about what Fiyero had said. He didn't know what to do.

What would anyone do?

* * *

Dorothy paced in her room angrily, wanting to scream at the top of her lungs and rip out her hair. No one was going to help her find Hunk! No one cared about him! How could they be so thoughtless about him?!

Well, screw them, she was going to do something! She approached the crystal ball once more and summoned her energy to perform the location spell again. Her body exploded with pain as she pushed her physical limits. But she ignored it. Finding him was the only thought in her mind.

She drained all her energy into the orb, willin it to show her something, anything. Her legs began to grow very weak and her knees buckled beneath her. But still she remained focused on the crystal ball. Every fiber of her being was strained to create an image in the mystical orb. Her vision began to grow foggy as her eyelids began to droop, and suddenly, she passed out on the floor, blackness overcoming her.

* * *

"Something's wrong!" Elphaba cried, stopping dead in her tracks. "I can feel it! Someone's hurt!"

"What is it?!" Fiyero asked urgently. "Is it Hunk?"

Elphaba shook her head. "No, it's close." Her eyes grew wide and her skin turned a slightly paler shade of green. "Oh, no, _Dorothy_!"

She raced down the halls with Fiyero right behind her. She burst into her room to see Dorothy laying unconcious on the floor, right next to the crystal ball. It only took elphaba a second to realize what had happened.

"Dorothy, wake up!" she said urgently.

Dorothy groaned, her eyes slowly fluttering open. "What happened?" she muttered, rubbing her head.

"Did you attempt the location spell again?" Elphaba asked angrily. "I told you, you needed to rest before doing it again! If you overexert yourself, you could have been killed!"

"I had to find him," she said, her voice still weak and groggy. "I needed to know."

"Um, guys . . ." Fiyero said.

"Not now," Elphaba said to him before turning back to Dorothy. "I know you want to find him, but you can't do something like this! You could have honestly died! I want you to promise you won't do that again, ok? We don't need you to die over something as stupid as this!"

"Guys . . ." Fiyero urged.

"One minute!" Elphaba said. "Dorothy, please promise me you won't try to endanger your life again."

Dorothy nodded sluggishly. "Alright."

"GUYS!" Fiyero yelled.

"What?!" Elphaba spat, turning around to look at him.

But Fiyero wasn't looking at them. Instead, he was staring at the crystal ball, which began to glow brightly as colors filled the sphere.

"The spell is working," he said.

Dorothy scramled to her feet, and all three of them crowded around the crystal ball to witness the vision unfold.

* * *

**What will they see?! Please review, and find out!**


	15. Death

**CAUTION: I will not hold back whatsoever in this chapter. I will be using some of the most horrible torture methods you have ever seen. Yes, I've actually done some research for this one. **

**Ratings have changed to M for this chapter. You have been warned.**

* * *

The crystal orb glowed brighter than ever, and instanty began to fill with colors. I leaned closer to the orb until my nose was nearly pressed up against it. The colors began to sharpen, but the orb was mostly filled with a foggy, cold grey color. Then a shape began to apear. The silouette was a man, and slowly it was filled with soft colors, and I let out a cry of joy when there was enough detail to tell that it was Hunk. We had done it! We've found him!

But there was something very wrong with him. Even though the vision was still fuzzy, I could see pain scrawled in his face. And it only grew worse as the image began to sharpen.

He was covered in blood, his own blood, and a fresh pool of the crimson liquid was at his feet. His arms were chained to a wall, forcing him to stand upright, exposing his bare chest, which was covered with deep wounds that continued to ooze with blood. Hunk's head was resting against his chest and blood dripped from his mouth, and every breath was an effort, sending his entire body shuttering and jarring with pain.

I screamed in horror. I backed away from the orb, but I could not take my eyes off the terrible image. Both Fiyero and Elphaba jumped back from the ball when it revealed him, their faces covered with terror.

"Oh, god, no!!" I screamed.

Morrible then came into view and walked in front of Hunk, her fat hands clasped behind her back and a cruel smile played on her lips.

"Had enough?" she asked him simply.

Hunk did not respond. Instead, he only raised his bloodied head to glare hatefully at her. He continued to wheeze and cough painfully, but his eyes still held a determined fire within them.

"I see that all my efforts thus far to extract information from you have been useless. So let's bring out the experts, shall we?"

Four more guards entered the room and circled around Hunk like a gang. One face stood out in the crowds.

"Malnor," Fiyero growled. "I swear, when I get my hands on you . . ."

Malnor stepped forward and grabbed Hunk's jaw and forced him to look up at him. Malnor smiled wickedly as he then punched Hunk as hard as he could across the face with his other hand.

Hunk groaned in pain, and spat out a bloodied tooth. He met Malnor's gaze again and started to cough. His whole body was jarred as he gasped and wheezed for breath, and blood sprayed from his mouth.

"You're a stubborn bastard," Malnor was saying. "Not many people would have lasted as long as you have. But I think I know the trick to get you to talk!" He pulled out a cantene filled with a clear liquid, and shook it in front of Hunk's face. "You know what this is? This is sulfuric acid! This little baby can eat through your skin like a hot knife through butter!"

I gasped, covering my mouths with my hands. "Oh, no!! Elphaba, do something!" I screamed.

But already Elphaba was chanting a spell under her breath, her eyes focused and set. She lifted her hands to the orb's surface as she continued to chant.

"Wait!" Morrible yelled. She then looked around the room with a satisfied grin. "They're here! I can feel the presence of her magic!"

"Oh, shit!" Elphaba yelled, pulling her hands away from the orb and ceasing the spell immediately.

"What?! What's wrong?" I asked.

"Morribe knows we're watching!" Elphaba said.

"So?! Cast the spell anyway!" I yelled. "You have to save him!!"

"No . . . no . . ."

I turned back to look at the crystal ball. Hunk had hs head raised and was looking around the cell crazily. "No . . . spell . . . track!" he gasped.

"Shut up!" Malnor yelled. He opened the cantene and poured no more than a tablespoon of the clear, syrupy sulfuric acid on his arm. Instantly, his skin began to burn and the sound of the scortching flesh filled the air. Hunk screamed in agony, twisting and writhing in pain. His upper arm was covered in a terrible black burn, and the flesh below the skin was also burned and black, revealing the bleach white bone beneath. Hunk gasped, his breaths heavy and labored, trying to dull the agonizing pain.

But he still wouldn't stop. "Morrible . . . tracking spell . . . don't try . . . to save me!" he panted, his voice full of agony. "She . . . will find-"

He was cut off as Malnor dumped the rest of the cantene down his back, sending Hunk screaming like a banshee and straining against the chains that held him. He jerked desperately against the chains, and the sound of burning flesh hissed in the air. I could almost smell the acidic stench as I watched the terror unfold.

"DO SOMETHING!!" I shrieked at Elphaba. "Don't let him die!!"

"She . . . will kill . . . us all!" Hunk gasped in between his labored breaths. "Don't . . . do it!"

I looked pleadingly at Elphaba. "Please! There has to be something we can do!"

Elphaba stared at the ball, her face a mask. "I can't."

"Why not?!" I yelled angrily.

"Morrible will be able to track the spell and find us," Elphaba said in an unbelievably calm tone. "If I try to save him with a spell, Morrible will find us and kill us all."

"We can't just sit here and do nothing!"

Glinda, Boq and Osio then came into the room, looking extremely worried.

"What's going on? We heard someone scream . . ." her voice faded away once she saw the terrible image on the crystal ball. "Oh, heaven of the Unnamed God!! What are they doing to him?!"

"We have to help him!" Boq yelled frantically.

"We can't do anything!" Elphaba said angrily, her fists shaking. "There's not a damn thing we can do for him!"

"Why not?" Glinda said as tears fell from her eyes. "How can we let him die?!"

"If I try to save him, Morrible will find us, and everyone's life will be at stake!" Elphaba said bitterly, all her anger and rage directed at Morrible and the heartless guards. It was a terrible fact we had to face, a fact no one wanted to except. Not even Elphaba. "I can't do anything for him! God damn it!"

Malnor backed away from Hunk as another guard brought forth a horrendous looking torture device. It was an iron boot that opened and closed on a hinge, and the insides were lined with tiny spikes. A large screw was on the back of the boot to tighten it around the foot.

"Oh, god . . ." I whispered, knowing all too well what was coming.

The guard clamped the boot around Hunk's foot and shut it, the spikes hardly touching his skin. Hunk stared down at the device, his eyes in a panic.

"Oh, god, please! No! No! Don't do it! Stop!" he begged in a ragged voice. "STOP!"

"Are you going to tell us where they are, then?" Morrible asked with a sneer.

Hunk looked back and forth between the boot and Morrible, and he shut his eyes tightly and furiously shook his head.

"I won't betray them! I won't betray them! I won't betray them!" he chanted, his voice nearly inaudible.

Morrible rolled her eyes in an almost disappointed fashion. "So be it." She motioned to the guard to continue with the torture.

The guard tightened the screw on the boot very slowly, and the boot grew tighter and tighter around Hunk's foot. Hunk gritted his teeth, and as the spikes punctured his foot, his breaths came more frequent, his fists clenched tightly as blood poured from the boot onto the floor. A sickening snap of bones was heard as clear as thunder, and Hunk screamed louder than before, furiously thrashing around to try to free his foot, but it only made the torture worse. The guard continued to tighten the boot, and the sharp snapping of bones filled the air like firecrackers and sent cold shivers down my spine. Every snapping bone, every cry of pain was a hot knife that cut through my chest. I collapsed onto the floor and started crying from the sheer brutality of the torture. Hunk's screams of pain echoed off the walls, burrowing deep into our minds and ringing through our ears like a haunting wail.

"Oh, I can't watch!" Glinda cried, burying her head in Boq's shoulder and turning away from the crystal ball. Boq looked away as well, wiping away a tear from his eye.

The guard finally stopped twisting the boot tighter, and started to loosen it. He then carefully took it off Hunk's foot to reveal the extent of the damage.

Never, in my entire life, have I ever seen something so brutal and so cruel. His foot was covered in blood and so horribly disfigured that it was impossibe to tell it even was a foot. White bone shards poked out of his skin, and his ankle was crushed into nothing more than a mass of red flesh and white ligaments. Hunk refused to look down at his destroyed leg and was screaming the entire time the boot was removed. Some of his flesh came off with the boot, and the inside of it looked like it had been covered with bright, and etremely chunky, crimson paint.

Tears of pain streamed down from his eyes as he gritted his teeth, whimpering at the anguish of his suffering.

"Now will you tell us?" Morrible sneered cruelly, not affected at all by Hunk's screams or the gruesome outcome of the torture.

Still, Hunk shook his head. "I . . . won't betray . . ." he whispered, his eyes tightly shut. "No . . . not her . . ."

I buried my face in my hands and started sobbing uncontrollably. "Hunk, you stupid bastard! Just save yourself!! Please, don't let them kill you! I can't bear it if you died!!"

I didn't see it, but Elphaba had tightly gripped Fiyero and was biting down on the tip of her thumb. A tear fell from her eye.

"That bitch," Fiyero said in a voice hardly louder than a whisper, a voice filled with anger and pain. "How could she even think to do something like this?!"

Morrible paced aroud Hunk's mutilated body, getting evermore impatient. She looked upwards angrily.

"You better reveal yourselves if you want to save him!" she shouted. "Refuse, and we'll continue to unleash hell upon him!"

"How does she know we're watching?!" I whispered.

"She could sense the magic in my spell," Elphaba said in a choked up voice. "Fortunately, I stopped casting the spell before she could track it. But now, the spell cannot save Hunk."

I looked back up at the ball, and the third guard came forward. He was holding a rope covered in barbs, and began to tie it loosely around Hunk's chest. Hunk groaned in fury and hatred, as well as pain.

"Stop! Please! No!" he begged.

"You can't try to beg your way out of this one!" Morrible sneered. "Nearly everyone in Oz is under my control! You cannot reason with them!"

The guard then pulled as hard as he could on the rope, and the barbs dug deep into Hunk's chest and ripped away shreds of the top layers of his skin, exposing the muscle below.

"AAAAAAUUUUUUGGGGHHHHH!!"

I clamped my hands around my ears as I desperately tried to block out Hunk's cries. I couldn't watch anymore! I couldn't watch as Hunk was brutally and mercilessly tortured before my eyes.

Hunk's head fell onto his chest, and his breaths became shallow. He tried shifting his weight onto his good foot to ease the stress of the chains on his wrists, but on of the guards came up to him, holding a large sledgehammer, and proceeded to swing the hammer as hard as he could at Hunk's leg. The sound of the cracking bone was like the crack of a whip, and I screamed in terror as Hunk let out a bellow of pain.

He was now hanging by the chains on his wrist. His arms were spread far apart, as if he was on a cross . . . like a scarecrow.

I turned tearfully up at Fiyero. He looked back at me with worry and terror.

"She knows I'm still alive," he whispered. "Oh, no . . ."

"If you refuse to tell us where your friends are hiding, then you are of no worth to me," Morrible said, finally letting her patience get the best of her and gave up trying to torture information out of Hunk. "You will die the slowest, most painful death you can ever imagine. But if you tell us, I will heal you completely."

Hunk shook his head weakly. "I . . . promised . . . no."

Morrible then looked at Malnor, and nodded. Malnor's face broke out into a huge, evil grin as he stepped up towards Hunk. Out of his tunic, he pulled out a long, serrated dagger, about twelve inches long and razor sharp. The blade shimmered in the dim glow and reflected the light like an evil mirror. He held it high in the air for all to see.

"Oh, god of hell . . ." Fiyero whispered, taking a step away from the ball, his painted eyes growing wide with terror.

"What is it?" Elphaba asked weakly.

"That was the same knife I was killed with," Fiyero said in a hushed, horrified voice. "The same knife _he_ killed me with!" he said, pointing at Malnor.

I looked quickly up at Fiyero. "Malnor was the one that killed you?!"

Fiyero nodded, too shaken to speak.

"I would like to tell you a story about this knife," Malnor was saying to the barely-conscious Hunk. "I killed someone you might know with this. But of course, thanks to a certain Wicked _Bitch_, he's still alive." He heavily emphasized the word 'bitch,' deliberately saying it instead of 'witch.' "And I bet that coward Fiyero is watching you die right now!"

"NO!!" Fiyero screamed.

Malnor raised the knife high into the air and brough the blade down, piercing Hunk in the heart. Hunk screamed with pain, lifting his head up to the heavens. Malnor ripped the serrated blade out of his body, and Hunk leaned forward with a groan of pain.

Hunk was barely breathing, blood seeping out of the fresh wound like a bursted dam. He summoned enough energy and strength to raise his head, and looked directly at me.

"Dorothy . . ." he whispered.

Terrified, and fearing the inevitable, I crawled closer to the orb and clutched it in my hands, gazing back at Hunk's body. "Hunk . . . oh Jesus . . ." I whimpered.

"I . . . kept my . . . promise. I . . . will never . . . betray . . . you." He then smiled weakly, and I could see the fire in his eyes slowly begin to fade.

"No, no! Please, Hunk! Don't die, please! You were always the strong one! Not you, never you, don't die, please!" I begged tearfully. "I can't be without you! Oh, god, please, don't go! Don't go! Don't leave me here all alone!"

"I am willing to die for you," he whispered. He gave one last long ragged sigh before his head fell forward, and his body went limp in the chains that bound him.

Hunk was dead.

* * *

**Oh, the little note I left back in Chapter 14? Yeah, I lied. He was going to die, anyway.**

**And yes, I did just kill Hunk, and no, I will not apologize for it.**


	16. A Thirst For Vengeance

**I'm not going to apologize for l Hunk, but I assure you I had a very good reason for doing so. **

**(Other than to get you guys to write reviews ;D)**

**Y'know, the funniest thing happened. I was writing last chapter, and as I was proofreading, I rubbed my eye and saw excess moisture on my fingers. What is this?! Did I just cry?! Am I becoming emotionally attached to fictitious characters?! NOOOOO!**

* * *

Hunk was dead! Hunk was dead! _Hunk was dead!!_

Those damned words echoed through my head like a death knell. I couldn't believe it! No!! It wasn't possible!! Not Hunk! Never Hunk! How could he be dead?!

"NOO!!" I screamed. "No! NO! God damn it, NO!" I collapsed to the floor, sobbing, hugging my self as I stared at the horrible image on the crystal ball. Hunk's bleeding body covered up every square inch of it, unmoving, haunting making my very blood run cold as tears streamed down my face. The nightmare . . . the nightmare I have had for all these years . . . was no longer just a terrible dream, but a heart breaking reality. The image was exactly like in my dreams, arms outstretched, beaten, bloodied . . .

I screamed once again and buried my head in my arms, shutting myself out from the rest of the world. I couldn't accept it! Hunk couldn't die like that!

Arms encircled me, trying to comfort me, but I pushed whoever it was away. I didn't want anyone to touch me. "NO! Just leave me alone!!" I shrieked. "Don't touch me! Get away from me!!"

I wanted Hunk. I wanted Hunk to be here. I only wanted his arms to hold me, I only wanted him to touch me. I couldn't live without him! He was my life, my love, my soul! I couldn't bear it if he left me!

But he was dead. He was dead, he was dead, god damn it, he was dead!!

I sobbed uncontrollably as I curled up on the stone floor. I could feel the others stand around me hesitantly. But someone knelt down besides me, pulled me up into a sitting position and wrapped their arms around me with a soft crackle.

Fiyero.

I cried into his shoulder as he held me tightly, rocking me back and forth, trying to comfort me.

"How could he be dead?! He promised me! He promised me!! How could he do such a thing to himself?!" I sobbed.

"I'm so sorry," Fiyero whispered, his voice breaking. "I should have never let him come. I shouldn't have brought him back into the prisons."

There was a loud thud as Boq punched the wall. "GOD DAMN IT!!" he screamed, tears in his eyes. "NO!" Glinda held him tightly, crying, and Boq sank to his knees, breaking out into racking sobs.

Elphaba stood there, unmoving, her face plastered with horror and grief. She still stared at the crystal ball, and tears streamed from her eyes. "I could have saved him, I could have saved him, I could have saved him . . ." she whispered to herself in a breathy voice.

He was dead, and he was never coming back. I just wanted to die then, I wanted to be with him, I am nothing without him. I felt as if my heart had been ripped to pieces, and I would never heal from these wounds.

I wanted to die, I wanted to die, I wanted to die . . .

* * *

Elphaba closed the door softly behind her. She took a few shaky steps forward before her knees gave out and she collapsed into Fiyero. He held her tightly with his straw-stuffed arms and pressed his face into her hair.

"Oh, god, Fiyero, I feel awful," she whispered. "I can't believe he's . . . he's . . ."

"Shh," Fiyero soothed, then looked back at the door. "Is Dorothy ok?"

"I had to put her under a sleeping spell. She was hysterical with grief." She shook her head sadly. "And it's my fault! Dorothy's too young to be going through this! To loose someone so close to her . . . it's exactly like what happened to us! Except this time there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it!"

"It's ok, Fae, you did what you could. This is Morrible's doing, and no one else's. But there is something we have to talk about." He paused, his voice growing serious as he looked her in the eye. "She knows we're still alive."

Elphaba sighed. "I would have guessed that much. Now what are we going to do?"

Fiyero shook his head. "We can't keep hiding. We need to prepare an attack, and soon. She'll burn everything to the ground in search of us. We need to make one final stand and fight."

Elphaba was uncertain. "I don't know if it'll be enough."

"It will be. I swear to you, and to everyone else who has suffered that she will pay for what she has done," Fiyero said, his voice growing angry. "I won't let her get away with this."

With a farewell hug, Fiyero walked off into the barracks and into the training room. It was here, just a few days ago, that he had been practicing with Hunk, teaching him everything he knew about combat. Fiyero knew Hunk was a skilled fighter, he knew he had the strength and courage to be an excellent soldier.

And look what happened.

One slip, one mistake, and he paid for it with his life.

Fiyero clenched his fists. It was his fault. He was the one that insisted Hunk to join him. If he hadn't been so stupid, then he'd still be alive.

Should have, could have, would have, what-if . . .

It was too much. All the anger, all the suffering, all the pain . . .

He will kill the ones that had tortured him mercilessly. He will make sure that every damn one of them will regret what they had done.

Fury raged through his body like a fire, and there was nothing he could do to relieve the storm of emotions inside of him. With a furious bellow, he kicked over a nearby table, punched over the wooden dummies, threw every weapon and anything at all he could onto the floor. He banged his fists repeatedly against the stone walls. He couldn't feel anything, he couldn't feel a goddamn thing, and he hated himself for it. His anger intensified, and he pounded the wall even harder. His enraged outburst did nothing to relieve his anger, and, defeated, he banged his head against the wall before he crashed to his knees, burying his head into his arms.

Damn it.

He leaned back against the stone wall and just sat there, wishing that now, more than ever, he could feel pain. He wanted to be human again, he wanted to feel the burdensome agony, he wanted to _get hurt._

He noticed a rip in his tunic, and r poked out in almost a mockery of his condition. Angry, he ripped out the straw and chucked it across the room before he buried his head in his arms once more.

_Tink._

He looked up. Amidst the straw he had pulled out was a tiny black box, and a glint of silver shone through the golden-yellow hay. Fiyero leaned over and picked it up.

Hunk's ring. The ring he was going to give to Dorothy. The ring he was entrusted to keep safe.

_For insurance. In case anything bad should happen to me._

Fiyero clenched the ring in his gloved hand. How had he known? Did he even know? Did he see his death in a dream or vision? Fiyero closed his eyes tightly and gripped the ring even harder.

Dorothy had lost her best and only friend from her life back in her home world.

They were destined to be together. They were so perfect for each other. They loved each other so much, even he could see that. And now, that could never happen. Hunk was gone.

He could sense someone else in the room, and he saw Elphaba standing in the doorway. She ran next to him and lept into his arms and they sat there wrapped in each other's embrace. Elphaba cried into his arms, agonizing sobs he had never heard before, never thought Elphaba was capable of. She was strong, tough stubborn . . . but now she was broken, shattered like a fallen mirror.

Fiyero hugged her with all his might, longing to feel her again, wanting to somehow reassure her, but there was nothing he could say to relieve the pain.

"Oh, Fiyero, I'm so sorry," Elphaba said quietly, wiping away her own tears with the heel of her hand. "This is terrible. What can we do?"

"There's nothing we can do," he said, clutching the ring. "Not a damn thing, and I hate it."

Elphaba lowered her gaze, and looked with the tiniest bit of curiosity at Fiyero's clenched fist. Fiyero slowly opened it, revealing the ring. A tiny silver band with a small diamond carefully placed next to two tiny pure white opals. So simple and elegant and beautiful all at the same time. Elphaba's eyes widened.

"This was Hunk's," Fiyero said in a voice thick with misery. "He was going to propose to Dorothy the day they came back here. They were going to get married, did you know that? They were going to be together, they were going to be happy, but now that will never happen."

Elphaba's eyes immediately began to tear up again. "Oh, Yero . . ." She looked back at him. "Should we tell her?"

"No," he said. "No, it's too soon. Let her heal."

"I don't think anyone could heal after something like this," Elphaba said quietly. "Do you think she can?"

Fiyero looked down at the ring, and carefully placed it back in the black velvet box. He also stuffed the fallen straw back into his chest.

"Only time will tell."

* * *

Boq was numb. He was oblivious to everything around him. Nothing registered in his mind, he ignored everything around him.

All he could think about was the horror he had seen, how Hunk had died, how he had been brutally tortured right in front of him.

And he could have stopped it from happening. If he hadn't made that one stupid mistake, if he had done what he had been told . . .

He was hardly aware that Glinda was still by his side, clutching his arm, still crying. Boq couldn't comfort her. Nothing he could say could ever make the guilt go away. Nothing he could do would ever compensate for this.

"I'm a horrible person," Boq muttered. "I let this happen. It's my fault. Everything is my fault."

Glinda shook her head. "Please don't say that!" she said weakly. "It's not. Please don't say things like that. I can't take it." She cried a little harder. "Oh, Boq!" She flung her arms around him, and Boq pulled her close to him, gripping her gently yet firmly. He closed his eyes tightly and she leaned her head into his shoulder, sobbing.

Boq continued to hold Glinda for a very long time, neither wanting to break the embrace. He didn't know what to do, what anyone could do.

"Boq?"

He turned around. His mother was standing a few feet away from him, and her face was covered with worry.

"Boq, what's the matter?" she asked quietly.

Boq looked at Glinda, still sobbing into his shoulder, then looked back at his mother. "Hunk's dead," he said in a voice hardly louder than a whisper. "I saw him die. And I could have saved him."

His mother's jaw dropped in horror, and she clasped her hands together in front of her mouth. "Oh, dear Lurline," she whispered. "Was he the one that was trapped back in the prisons?"

Boq nodded weakly.

She lowered her head. "I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault, it's mine," Boq said angrily. "If I had killed that guard, he wouldn't be dead."

Glinda shook her head. "Stop it, don't say that! It's not your fault-"

"Yes it is, damn it!" Boq yelled.

"Boq," his mother said very quietly and gently. "How can you possibly blame yourself for this? No one could ever expect you to willingly kill another person. It goes against everything you believe in."

Boq lowered his head and looked away with shame. He wasn't buying it. It was his fault, all his fault.

"You don't understand," he said angrily.

She came up and hugged him. "I understand enough to tell you that you can't be held responsible for his death. Who killed him?"

"Morrible, who else?!"

"Then it's her fault, not yours. But what you must be thinking about now is what are you going to do about it?"

Boq glanced back up at her. "What do you mean?"

"What are you going to do about it?" she repeated.

"What can I do? There's nothing we can do! We can't bring the dead back to life!"

"Maybe not. But you're missing the point. What will you do now to ensure no one else will suffer?"

Boq looked at her for a very long time. A wave of realization then hit him full force. He suddenly knew what he had to do. He just didn't know if he could bring himself to do it.

"I-"

"Well, if you have an idea, why don't you get to it?" she said with a small grin, then walked briskly away.

Glinda looked back up at Boq. "What was she talking about?"

"The armor," he said simply. "I'm going to wear that armor."

* * *

Osio was dazed. He could hardly comprehend what he had just seen. How could a human be capable of such things? It was vile, revolting, humiliating, barbaric, savage . . . something that no sane mind could ever be possible to do, let alone even think of such unspeakable deeds.

He felt pity for the poor Dorothy for loosing someone so close to her, but he wasn't sad or depressed. Death could no longer inflict sadness upon him; he'd seen too much of it to let it depress him anymore. But instead, he felt the fire-like wrath of anger build inside him.

He felt his fury well up inside him. Fury of the injustice of it all. Anger that he couldn't do a thing to stop it. He felt such a burning torrent of emotions burst inside of him it took all his self-restraint not to lash out and attack the next thing he saw.

His anger burned inside of hm like a primal fire, an intense sense of rage he never thought he was quite capable of. A low growl rose up from deep within him, from his very soul and throughout every fiber of his being. For the first time in his life, he longed for the taste of blood. The only thing that could cool his rage was the satisfying thought of clamping his own jaws over Morrible's throat and snapping her neck.

For the first time in a very long time, he felt more like an animal than an Animal.

He needed to share this horrible news with the others. This terrible deed will not go unnoticed. He will not stand the sight of losing another life. He thought he had seen every form of torture, every despicable thing a human could do to another being, but it only then dawned on him that he had only seen the very tip of the hideous iceberg. He had only scratched the surface of what the humans were capable of doing.

He won't let this continue. Watching Hunk tortured was like watching himself back in the prisons, but only much worse, far more painful, far more agonizing.

He remembered all of those he had lost, their faces flashed through his mind as he walked down the cold stone corridors. Zephyr, the messenger Hawk; Zerekel, the Fox, Elemin, the Stag; and a hundred more.

And there was Dasanita . . .

He paused briefly, remebering the one he had lost, the one he had been the closest to over these past years as King of Animals. She was one of the first killed, bravely standing up for the right to speak. She died protecting her newborn Cubs. The Cubs were slaughtered after their mother had died.

Butchered. Just for speaking.

And they were_ his_ mate, _his_ Cubs.

Slaughtered.

This must stop.

He approached the cavern especially reserved for Animals, and many of them paused to bow to their King. He ignored them as he marched passed every one of them to the stage up in front. The Animals could sense his anger, and gave each other questioning looks. The cavern grew dead silent once Osio reached the center of the stage up in the front of the room.

"My friends, my allies," he said in a very quiet voice. Dead silence. No one dared to move. No one dared to speak. "I am about to tell you the full extent of Morrible's insufferable horrors, her terrible deeds, her merciless actions." He paused, looking at every face in the crowd. "A man I once knew, an honorable and noble man, a man that had saved my life, had been murdered by no other than Morrible herself. He was brutally tortured before he was slaughtered like a lowly animal. The methods of torture were so heinous and unspeakable one could hardly even begin to imagine the twisted and insane minds that could even begin to think of such things. He was beaten mercilessly, and horribly disfigured before he was put out of his agonizing misery. There was no sense of pity, no sense of honor or any form of rationality to the terrible things I had seen! This is the final blow! We cannot continue to hide as the ones around us are killed! Who in this room hasn't lost a loved one?! Who here has not suffered from the pain of losing a father, a mother, a brother, a sister, a son, a daughter?! Who in this room hasn't?"

No one spoke out, and Osio could see that indeed everyone had lost someone, _everyone_.

"The time to fight back is now! We cannot allow this injustice to continue, and by God, I will not let Morrible harm another soul as long as I breathe!!" He slammed his paw on the floor, and the Animals became anxious, their anger beginning to boil like a volcano that would soon erupt.

"They think they are better than us! They think they can control us! We must prove to them, to the world, we are the strongest! We deserve the rights they have! No one should live in fear! Ever! We will stand, we will rise, we will overthrow the corrupt, and we will regain our rightful place in the world once more!!"

A monstrous roar erupted in the cavern, reverberating off the stone walls and shaking the floor beneath their feet. Osio gave his own roar of fury, of rage, of pain, of the agony of the loss he felt, and his thirst for revenge.

When Morrible's armies see what they have wrought, this army of enraged Animals, they will cower in fear and beg for their mercy.

There will be none.

* * *

Boq was in the same room the armor had been presented. The steel was still laying there, patiently, as if preparing for the unforseen, yet iminent, battle. He hesitantly lifted his hand and it hovered just above the armor. He wasn't sure why he was so reluctant to touch it.

He forced himself to put his hand on the armor, and he felt something surge through him, something he coudn't describe, something he had never felt before. It was somewhat like an electrical surge, but more . . . deep, more like a connection through his very being.

Hell, it felt _good_.

He slowly lifted the shoulder plates with the three long spikes, and put it over his shoulders. Once he screwed it into place, he began to put on the rest on. First the elbow and knee guards, then the ankle plates, and lastly, the forearm guards. He put on the plate with the shield first, then, reluctantly and slower than the others, the plate with the curved blade.

There was a mirror in the room, and he turned to look at himself. He was, at first, stunned to see what he looked like. He wasn't just a man made of metal, he was a knight, a soldier, an instrument of death. These thoughts first disgusted him, but he began to rethink everything.

_You are the ultimate weapon . . . _

What if Fiyero was right? What if he could be the fighter Fiyero and Hunk saw him as?

Boq heard faint footsteps behind him, and he saw Fiyero standing in the doorway, arms folded across his chest. He looked at Boq with an expression Boq couldn't quite name. Amusement? Anger? Disgust? A mixture of all of these, and something more.

"So, why the sudden change of heart?" he said, heavily emphasizing "heart."

Boq returned his cold glare. "Don't play games. You know why."

Fiyero didn't say anything. He only continued to stare at Boq and his new armor.

Boq sighed. "I think . . . that maybe you're right. Maybe I can help."

Fiyero lowered his gaze. Boq could see the emotional pain on his face.

"So now you want to be a soldier." A statement, not a question. He kept his eyes lowered and didn't look up at him.

"Hunk sacrificed his own life to help us. What kind of person would I be if I just stood back and did nothing?"

Fiyero studied him for a while, eyeing him carefully. Boq felt a cold chill run through his body. It felt as if he was under an X-Ray and Fiyero could see everything about him.

"I want to help," Boq said, a little more forcefully. "I want you to teach me how to fight."

Fiyero was a bit surprised to hear this, but a small smile spread across his burlap face.

"Now you're talking."

* * *

I sat in my room, alone, curled up in the corner of my room, back against the wall and head buried into my arms. I wanted to just end my miserable life. I wanted to be with Hunk again.

I had no idea how long I had been out, but I woke screaming his name, screaming for Hunk. I begged for him to come, prayed that it was only another terrible nightmare. But there was no response. This was a nightmare I couldn't wake up from.

I cried for a very long time, rocking myself back and forth, trying to numb the blinding pain. When I couldn't cry anymore, my voice racked with dry sobs, and I became emotionally drained and exhausted.

After the initial feeling of grief had passed, only one other emotion filled me.

Absolute fury.

I was furious beyond words. I wanted to unleash hell on the ones that did this to him. I wanted to kill Morrible. I wanted to torture her the same way she had tortured Hunk. I no longer felt any remorese, no sympathy, no gentle feelings for anyone or anything. Just a burning desire to kill.

I stood up, and with a new found goal in mind, I set off in search of Elphaba. She was the only one that could help me. I found her a little while later, talkng with Glinda. I approached her without hesitation.

They both turned to look at me, both with sympathy and pity in their eyes. I only looked at Elphaba and paid no attention to Glinda.

"Oh, Dorothy, are you ok?" Glinda asked. "Do you want to talk about anything?"

I ignored her.

"Elphaba," I said sternly.

She gave me a small nod. "Yes? If there's anything I can do for you-"

"Yes, there is," I said impatiently. "I want you to teach me dark magic. I want you to teach me spells that can kill."


	17. Through Different Eyes

**Hi! How's it going?! Miss me?**

**(crickets chirp)**

**Oooookkkk then . . .**

**Sorry for the long updates, but school's fridgnicking insane. Not to mention I have to apply to like ten different colleges. AND I HATE MY JOB!! STRESSED!! D8**

**So, this chapter's a little short, mostly because it's as about as good a point as any to stop and I just wnt to get something posted. Looking back, it's mostly blah blah friendship blah blah woe-art-me bah blah training. But if you like that stuff, here you go.**

Elphaba stared at Dorothy in shock. "You can't be serious," she breathed.

"I couldn't be more serious," she said with a hint of anger. "I want to learn killing spells."

Elpphaba shook her head. "No, Dorothy. I refuse. I know you're angry and upset, but going on a killing spree won't make the pain go away."

"And how would you know?!" Dorothy spat.

Elphaba was silent for a moment, but her gaze never wavered. "Because I did."

Dorothy continued to glare angrily at the green woman, but Elphaba saw a spark of curiosity in her eyes. Elphaba sighed. She never told this story to anyone, not even Fiyero. But she needed to tell Dorothy this. It was painful to reopen such a shameful and horrific part of her past, but she needed to know.

"When I thought Fiyero died, I . . . I let my anger control my action and soon I was flying around Oz looking for someone to take my frustration out on," she said quietly. "I happened to spot a group of about ten soldiers making a camp near the edge of a forest. They weren't the ones that killed him, but I didn't care. I flew down to them . . . and I killed them. All of them. Just because they were the Wizard's guards, I killed them." Elphaba lowered her head. "It was a horrible thing to do. I regret it every day of my life. Dorothy, I beg of you not to go down that same path. It's a terrible, dark, horrifying way. You'll lose yourself and be lost in your own madness. Don't make the same mistake I did. Please."

Dorothy remained quiet, reconsidering everything she had just told her. But she shook her head.

"I know you don't want me to do this. But I know I have to. I'm not going to let that bitch get away with something like this."

Elphaba didn't respond. She wasn't sure what she could say.

"I'm still firm." Dorothy said finally. "If you won't teach me, then I'll just teach myself." She left the room, leaving no opportunity for Elphaba to say anything else.

"Wait . . ." Elphaba called after her, but Dorothy was already gone. Sighing, she fell back in her seat and rubbed her forehead.

"Glinda, what am I going to do?" she said.

l didn't answer for a long time.

"Elphie, you didn't," she said breathlessly.

Elphaba turned to look up at her. Glinda's bright blue eyes were wide with horror, and she had tears rimming her eyes. "Please tell me what you said to Dorothy wasn't true!"

Elphaba met her gaze, but lowered her eyes. "I wish I was."

Glinda looked down at her hands for a moment. "I can't believe you would actually do something that . . . that bad."

"Like I said, you loose yourself in your own madness," she sighed. "I regret it every day of my life. It's torture. I don't want Dorothy to go through what I did."

"Well, I'd say she's already half-way there."

Elphaba shot Glinda an annoyed, but curious glare.

"I mean, if you think about it," she said again. "She just found out she's a powerful witch, she's fighting against an unjust ruler, she was head-over-heels in love wth the man of her dreams, and now she just lost him." Glinda sighed with a sad smile on her lips. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say I was talking about you!"

"Yeah, but she doesn't have green skin," Elphaba said bitterly.

"But she is an outsider," Glinda pointed out.

Elphaba was silent for a minute. "Good point."

"I'm not sure what we should do. Maybe if we could somehow take her mind off of things for a while," Glinda suggested with a shrug.

"And how are we going to do that?" Elphaba questioned. "No offense, but I don't think this is something anyone could forget about easily."

"We just have to find something else to talk about."

"Like what?"

Glinda thought for a moment, her eyes cast to the ceiling. "I know!" she said suddenly. "Why don't you teach her how to fly!"

Elphaba stared at Glinda. "You're kidding me, right?"

"Do you have a better idea?" Glinda challenged.

"Glin, Morrible's scouring the country looking for us! I haven't flown since I went into hiding because we would get caught! It's too dangerous." Elphaba sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest. "I'm sorry, but that's not a very good idea. Especially now."

Glinda shrugged again. "I still think you should do it. It would really help her take her mind off of things."

Elphaba sighed. "I'll have to think about it."

Silence.

"So . . . how's Boq holding up?" Elphaba said carefully to break the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh, Elphie, he feels just awful," Glinda admitted sadly. "But I think he's doing the right thing now."

"Which would be . . . ?"

"He decided to put on the armor. Elphie, I think he wants to be a soldier now."

Elphaba stared at Glinda in disbelief. "Really? Well, he certainly has changed in these last few years, hasn't he? Good for him."

"How's Fiyero?" Glinda asked.

Elphaba shook her head. "He's crushed, Glin," she said quietly. "He thinks it's his fault for dragging Hunk into the prisons in the first place. I saw him a while ago. I've never seen him so angry before." She shuddered. "When I saw him, he wasn't himself. It was like something ferocious hiding within him suddenly burst forth and just completely possessed him. It wasn't like him to just completely loose control like that. I'm worried about him. For everyone."

Glinda took Elphaba's hand into her own. "Hey, I'm sure we'll figure this out. Remember, years ago, what you said to me when you first defied the Wizard? 'If we work in tandem, there's no fight we cannot win?' I truly believe that, Elphie. We're finally all on the same side working together and soon we'll finally be able to defeat Morrible once and for all!"

Elphaba let a small smile spread across her face. "Oh, Glinda, your optimism never ceases to amaze me."

Glinda smiled. "Come on, let's go find Dorothy and make sure she doesn't do something stupid."

"My word, Glinda! I could have never imagined you would be so thoughtful!" Elphaba said sarcastically.

Glinda gave her a playful shove.

* * *

Boq followed Fiyero into the training room. He remembered with a painful sigh that it was here not a few days ago he was learning how to ambush guards, with Hunk right besides him.

Fiyero went into the back of the room and opened up a door Boq had not noticed previously. Inside was a smaller room, completely filled with every single weapon Boq could think of, and numerous others Boq had never seen before.

Boq gaped at the sight. Dozens, if not a hundred, swords lined one wall, and everywhere else there were flails, maces, daggers, bows and arrows with vicious looking broad heads . . . and an enormous double-bladed battle axe.

"We need to get you a weapon to fight with." Fiyero said. "It's all a matter of personal preference, but I like the sword. Easy to handle, but very lethal."

Boq could not take his eyes off the battle axe. It was huge, at least three and a half feet long and the blades themselves had a diameter of at least a foot and a half. Fiyero saw him eyeing the battle axe and smiled.

"But of course, if you want to keep with tradition . . ." he said, waving at the axe. "By all means."

Boq picked it up. To him, it didn't weigh very much, but he knew that to anyone else the axe would have been very heavy. He felt the same strange surge course through him just like the one he felt when he put on his new armor. It was much stronger, though. Boq felt a rush of anxiety and excitement flood him. It was almost as if he was made for this weapon.

Fiyero took out his own sword, and motioned to Boq to follow him back out into the training room.

"Before we begin, a word of caution," he said. "The axe is a very heavy weapon, whether you think so or not. If you don't know how to properly handle it, you'll leave yourself vulnerable and you can get killed."

Despite the seriousness in Fiyero's voice, Boq couldn't supress a laugh. "How can I die? I'm made of steel. You said it yourself; I'm practically indestructible."

"And that's the exact attitude that get you in a whole lot of trouble," Fiyero said sternly. "You _can_ die, or haven't you learned that already?"

Boq met his gaze, then sighed. "Alright, fine, whatever. But I doubt it."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow, and he smiled coyly. "You want to make a bet on that?"

"I bet my shiny metal ass you can't hurt me," Boq said confidently.

Fiyero whipped out his own sword and charged straight at him. Boq lifted the axe, ready to parry any attack Fiyero was going to throw at him. Fiyero shifted to the right, and Boq followed him, turning his body to face him.

Suddenly, he jerked to the left, and Boq tried to turn and face him again, but Fiyero was right, that axe was heavy and was slowing him way down. And dammit! Fiyero was _fast_.

Boq swung at him, aiming to chop him in half. But Fiyero saw it coming a mile away and jumped high in the air, clear over his axe. He landed light on his feet, and soon hs sword was at Boq's throat. Boq hesitated for only a split second, then tried to whack him away with his shield-arm. Fiyero bent over backwards to avoid his strike, a trick that would have been impossible if he wasn't made of straw. Boq was now way off balance, and Fiyero took the opportunity and kicked him lightly in the shoulder. Even though his kick was hardly more powerful than a light shove, it was enough to send Boq crashing to the floor. His head slammed into the stone floor with a loud crash. Boq's vision swam and a sense of nausea overcame him. He felt as if someone split his head in half, and he groaned loudly, rubbing his temples.

Fiyero placed the tip of his sword next to Boq's head and stood on his back as if he was posing for a picture of a recent successful hunt.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall!" he said with a laugh. "See? I told you. Now hand over your shiny metal ass."

"Shut up," he groaned, but he laughed anyway. "Besides, I need it more than you do."

"But you bet it and lost. Hand it over."

"No."

"You're such a sore loser, you know that, right?"

"Why do you want it so badly anyway?!"

* * *

Elphaba and Glinda found Dorothy in Hunk's old room curled up on his bed. Hesitantly they went in, and Dorothy gave no sign of acknowledging their presence.

"Hey," Elphaba said quietly. "Need anything?"

Dorothy didn't move for a while, her face a mask giving away no emotion. Elphaba looked at Glinda, silently asking for help.

"Is there-"

"You were right," she said suddenly. "I shouldn't have asked you to teach me dark magic. It was stupid."

Elphaba shook her head. "I should have expected it. It's not your fault; you have a right to be angry."

Dorothy slowly nodded. "Do you mind just sitting here and talking to me? It would make me feel a whole lot better."

"Of course," Glinda said, hopping on the edge of the bed and taking Dorothy's hand.

"What would you like to talk about?" Elphaba asked gently.

"Hunk."

Elphaba and Glinda both switched worried glances, but Dorothy only laughed quietly.

"It's ok. I want to talk about it."

Elphaba nodded. "So, where to begin?"

"Well, his real name was Anthony," Dorothy began. "My aunt used to call him 'Honey,' the name of her cat when she was a little girl." She chuckled. "I was little when he first came onto the farm, and I called him 'Hunk' for short. Soon enough, one thing led to another and soon everyone started calling him 'Hunk.'" She smiled. "I have no idea why the nickname stuck. Hunk is such a stupid nickname."

"I don't think it's stupid," Glinda said. "I think it's cute!"

Dorothy smiled. "One of the farmhands, his name was Zach, used to tease him for it. Anthony then started to say his name with a funny accent, and when he pronounced his name, it sounded like 'Zeke.' And we all followed suit as well. In about a month after calling him 'Zeke' all the time, we almost forgot what his real name was!" Dorothy laughed again. "There was another farmhand, Frederic. He was such the big dreamer, lost in thought about what he could do to make the world a better place. He's pretty smart, too. But Hunk kept saying that his head would get lost in the clouds and he'd float away. Once, as a joke, he tied him to a hickory tree to make sure he didn't get lost in his daydreams!" She started laughing loudly. "After that, we all called Frederic 'Hickory' and kept teasing him to make sure his roots kept him from drifting away!" She sighed. "Those were the days. Not a care in the world. Nothing to worry about." Her smile faded a little. "I wonder what they're up to now . . ."

"When did you last see them?" Elphaba asked.

"At my aunt and uncle's funeral," Dorothy said without any real hint of sadness. "I briefly talked to them. Zach was working in construction and Frederic was one of the chairs in a major engineering company." She smiled. "I always knew he'd do something big, just like he dreamed of. When we last saw him, Hunk joked that he would have to take him back to the farm and tie him up again! We kept in touch, not as much as we did when we moved out of the farm, but still enough to keep things up to date. I haven't seen them since. Almost four or so years now."

"Did you tell them about . . . us?" Glinda asked. "Obviously, Hunk knew beforehand, but did they know?"

"No. It was too crazy to tell. Hunk was the only one I felt I could talk to. I trusted him. And the funny thing was he actually believed me. If it were anyone else, they'd probably ship me off to the loony bin."

Elphaba placed her hand comfortingly on Dorothy's back. "Sounds like you've had good times back then. You must have been really happy."

Dorothy thought for a moment. "I was content. I loved everyone very much, but it seemed . . . kinda empty. It was boring most of the time. I wanted to go on adventures as a kid." She shook her head. "Man, did I get my wish or what?"

"All things consdered, I'm surprised you're not in the loony bin!" Glinda laughed.

_"GLINDA!"_ Elphaba hissed.

But Dorothy laughed along with Glinda, and even Elphaba relaxed enough to allow a small smile. Dorothy wiped away a small tear from her eye, and gave Glinda and Elphaba huggs. Glinda tenderly embraced her back. Elphaba stiffened slightly, but returned the gesture.

"Thank you so much," Dorothy said. "It was nice to talk to you for a bit."

"The pleasure was all ours!" Glinda said sweetly. "We're your friends now."

"Yeah," she said, but her voice grew serious. "However, I still want to fight."

There was a heavy silence. Elphaba wasn't sure what to say. Dorothy took the silence as an opportunity to explain herself.

"Hunk died fighting for the freedom of people he'd never even met. I could never live with myself if I wasn't going to make the same sacrifice. Please, Elphaba, teach me how to fight back."

This time, as Elphaba looked into Dorothy's eyes, she saw her for what she truly was. She wasn't the same teenage girl she met years ago. Dorothy had matured greatly; she was now a young woman with an astounding talent in magic. Elphaba knew she couldn't just treat her like a child anymore. And Elphaba knew that this time her motive was not revenge (well, possibly a little) but a pure desire to protect the persecuted.

Elphaba couldn't deny her the chance to help.

She sighed. "Alright, I'll teach you. But you must be warned; most of the spells I will teach you are extremely dangerous and can even kill you if you're not careful."

Dorothy nodded, listening intently to her. "I understand."

"Then let's begin."

* * *

**I honestly don't know why Fiyero wants Boq's shiny ass so much. But he's not gay, I assure you. ;D **

**I have to admit, I needed to throw in some humor here.**


	18. Everyone Deserves the Chance to Fly

Boq held his axe steadily in front of him, eyeing Fiyero, who was standing across the room. He was walking in a circle around the room, and Boq mirrored his movements, keeping Fiyero in front of him at all times. Fiyero had his sword in his hand and was trailing it against the stone floor. The sound of the steel on stone was an eerie screeching wail that never failed to send chills down Boq's spine.

Step one: intimidation.

Boq had to admit, Fiyero could be one hell of a scarecrow. If he wanted to, he could be the scariest thing on the face of the earth. The way he glared coldly straight at Boq was nothing short of terrifying, but the way he walked chilled him most of all. He walked with a ragged limp, like a being from the dead, his shoulders hunched over emphasizing his almost zomibe-like presence. The continual shriek of the sword against solid rock was a chilling and haunting wail that was enough to make anyone cower.

But Boq was also something to be feared. He kept his arms raised high, slightly hunched over, and stepping deliberately and confidently, his metallic steps echoing thunderously about the cavern. He was careful to control his movements precisely to make himself as intimidating as possible. And for a little emphasis, he purposefully made some of his joints creak and groan with every move he made. He kept his elbows slightly bent to expose the deadly barbs on his elbows and shoulders.

"Very good," Fiyero complimented. He stopped dead in his tracks and raised his sword to a fighting stance.

Step two: size up the enemy, and know your own limits as well.

Boq used his keen vision to examine Fiyero and any weak points or vulnerability. For one, he was only made of straw. One slice through the torso and he would be rendered useless. But he was also fast and flexible. Boq was heavy and slow, but being made of metal, he was much stronger. And less vulnerable.

Fiyero was examining him the same way. He wondered what he was thinking about. Fiyero looked at him and smiled.

"Most of your weight is on the right side of your body, so it's safe to assume you're right handed. That means that most of your attacks will be from the right, leaving you open for attack on your other side. You're also not holding the axe right. You're inexperienced, top-heavy, and since you have a heavy weapon, you will be slow with your attacks. But you have very few weak points. But if I get you off balance, you'll fall right over."

Boq gaped at him. That was one thing he forgot about Fiyero; he had years of experience under his belt.

Step three: attack

With a loud bellow, Boq charged straight at Fiyero with his ax raised high. Fiyero didn't move. Boq swung his axe straight at Fiyero, but he easily doged it, just as Boq expected him to. Letting go of the axe with his right hand, he swung his arm backwards to bring his arm-blade slicing through the air.

But Fiyero also predicted Boq's next move and parried the attack with his sword. Boq swung the axe around again with his left hand, and Fiyero stepped backwards out of the axe's range. Fiyero charged at him, and Boq lifted his left arm with the shield to block the sword. Boq heard the sword crash against the shield, and Boq instantly drove his arm forward, pushing Fiyero backwards. Fiyero stumbled, and Boq took the chance to bring his axe around once again. Fiyero dodged the axe, but only by fractions of an inch. He came close, very close.

Boq smiled. He could beat Fiyero.

With his axe now in his right hand, he charged once again at Fiyero. Fiyero stepped to the left, and Boq brought up his axe to swing once again. As Boq attempted to strike Fiyero again, he ducked and rolled under the axe's path and brought his sword down with all his might on Boq's collar.

But Boq was ready. With a backwards swing with his left arm, he knocked Fiyero off his feet. Fiyero stumbled and nearly fell over. And this time, Boq swung his axe at Fiyero with all his might, and Fiyero was far too off balance to block or dodge it.

The axe cut deep into Fiyero's chest. Fiyero fell to the floor, and Boq placed the edge of his axe at his throat.

Fiyero looked up at him, his eyes gleaming with pride. "Excellent work. You're really getting good at this."

"I told you I can beat you!" Boq said proudly.

"Well, it took you, what? Fourteen attempts?"

"Thirteen," Boq corrected automatically.

"Ohhh, my bad. Is that counting the first time when I knocked you out in like five seconds?"

"No."

"Why didn't you count that?"

"Because you didn't teach me anything about fighting."

"So? We still fought."

"But it doesn't count."

"Why not?"

"Because it wasn't a real fight."

"Oh, I get it. So you just pretended to get your ass kicked as I pretended to beat you up," Fiyero laughed sarcastically.

"Exactly," Boq said, laughing as well. He helped Fiyero up, but as he did so, a large pile of straw fell onto the floor. Boq just stared at it.

"Whoops, there go my guts." Fiyero snickered. "Here, help me out here. On the top shelf of that desk over there, there should be a needle with a large spool of some heavy thread. Could you get that?"

Boq did so, and he watched as Fiyero scooped up the straw and started stuffing it back inside of him. Boq was starting to feel nauseous.

"Ugh, doesn't that bother you?" he asked.

Fiyero shrugged. "It used to at first. But it's something I have to get accustomed to." He shook his head as he started to stitch together the rip in his tunic. "I'm going to need some serious therapy after all this is over."

Boq laughed. "You and me, both."

"Hell, our _therapists_ are going to need therapists!"

They laughed together for a bit, and once Fiyero had finished stitching himself, they placed the weapons and Boq's armor back into the back room and went looking for the girls.

"Do you think Dorthy's ok now?" Boq asked timidly.

"I couldn't say," he said solemnly.

They walked in silence for a while more before Boq spoke again.

"I never did thank Elphaba, did I?" he said.

Fiyero gave him a curious glance. "For what?"

"For saving my life."

Fiyero was silent for a moment. "No, you were too busy fuming about how she destroyed your life," he said, not unkindly.

"Yeah, I guess I should apologize for that," Boq sad quietly.

They continued their search throughout the caverns, and soon ran across Osio. He appeared eager and excited, but still a little angry over the recent incident.

"Hello, Osio," Fiyero greeted gently. "What are you up to?"

"I've just come to tell you that the encampment of Animals we met with a few days ago has finally arrived," he said, his tail swishing back and forth anxiously. "And, Fiyero . . . there's so many of them! I had no idea that this many had managed to escape Morrible! It's unelieveable!"

Fiyero glanced at Boq with a look of excitement, and hope. "And the gryphons?"

"They're here, too! Hundreds of them!"

"Hundreds?!" Boq and Fiyero both cried at the same time.

"Yes! And they claim that it's only a fraction of their total number!"

Fiyero was overwhelmed. "Where in the name of the Unnamed God have they hidden for all these years?" he wondered. "Well, come on! Show me to them!"

Osio did not hesitate, and quickly sprinted through the caverns to the largest room in the barracks. It was large enough to hold over a thousand Animals comfortably, but as Fiyero, Boq, and Osio entered the room, he was stunned to see the room was absolutely filled with dozens of every species of Animal, and the hundred or so gryphons mixed in the crowds. Over all, Fiyero quickly estimated that there were over twenty-five hundred Animals altogether.

Boq was just as amazed. "I had no idea there would be this many!" he gasped.

The Animals then noticed their presence, and the noise in the cavern suddenly dropped to almost absolute silence. The sudden stillness and quiet unnerved Fiyero.

A large black gryphon stepped forth, and approached Fiyero directly.

"So you're the one who will lead us into battle," the gryphon said with a scoff. "A scarecrow. How pathetic. And you claim that you can defeat Morrible."

"Don't be too quick to judge," Fiyero said calmly. "I'm just as capable as anyone else you see here."

The gryphon continued to study him with his golden-yellow eyes. "Let me clarify one thing with you, I am the one who will be leading these Animals until I know I can trust you and your judgement. I have heard that Elphaba is here as well. I would like to speak with her as soon as possible."

"Of course. It just so happened that my friend and I were out looking for her until I had recieved word that you and your friends had arrived," Fiyero said, motioning towards Boq.

The gryphon glared long and hard at Boq. "And you expect me to trust you, the friend of a tic-toc! Morrible's own creations straight from hell! This is an outrage! Have you not heard what those devils are capable of doing?!"

Boq grew rigid, and before he could stop himself, he blurted, "I am not a tic-toc! I was once human!! I have nothing to do with Morrible and I want her defeated as badly as anyone else! How dare you make such assumptions?!"

"Boq, please," Fiyero urged. "Forgive him. He only means respect."

The gryphon paid no attention to Fiyero but only continued to stare at Boq without expression. "You used to be human? Then how did you end up like this?" he asked suspiciously.

"I was dying, and Elphaba saved my life by transforming my body into metal," Boq explained with as much patience as he could muster.

The gryphon stood in silence for a moment. "And why should I trust you?"

"Because he's telling the truth!"

Fiyero and Boq both turned around and saw Glinda, Dorothy, and Elphaba standing behind them a bit. Fiyero was surprised he hadn't even heard them enter.

The gryphon looked at Elphaba and gave a small respectable bow. "Honorable Miss Elphaba, allow me to introduce muself, the gryphon said politely. "My name is Lazaris, and I-"

"Save your breath," she said testily. "You dare come into my home, and insult my friends? These are the ones who are willing to risk their lives for your sake, and offer you a chance for freedom, and you come here and dishonor them with your skepticism and vile remarks? I have absolute faith and trust in everyone that resides here, and I expect you to do the same."

The gryphon, Lazaris, was shocked to hear what she had to say, and lowered his head without taking his eyes off of her. "But I have every right not to immediately trust them! One is only an animated pile of hay and the other is a metal man!"

"You should get your facts straightened out before you make such ridiculous prejudices!" Dorothy said.

"And they have names, too, you know!" Glinda huffed. "Or were you so impatient you didn't even allow for a proper introduction?"

Lazaris narrowed his eyes. "So state your names, then!" he said, turning his attention back to Boq and Fiyero.

"My name is Master Boq Stithson," Boq said confidently.

"And I am Fiyero Tiggular. _General_ Fiyero, to you, that is," Fiyero said sternly.

"How very fortunate to meet your aquaintance, _General_," Lazaris said sarcastically, taking an exaggeratted bow. He looked at Dorothy. "And who are you?"

"My name is Dorothy Gale," she said with the same confidence.

"I know of you. You tried to kill Elphaba!" Lazaris exclaimed.

"She was not aware of what she was doing," Elphaba said. "And show her some respect!"

Lazaris stood stiff and tall, ruffling his feathers in agitation. He exhaled.

"Excuse me and my impatience, but it has been a very trying day. I'm still honored to finally meet your aquaintance, Miss Elphaba. And I want you to know you have my full support."

"I don't need your support," Elphaba said, crossing her arms. "He does," she continued, pointing at Fiyero.

Lazaris glared at Fiyero coldly. "We shall see." He left the room with his head held high and his tuft tail swishing in an annoyed fashion.

Elphaba groaned. Great, her first meeting with a live gryphon and she completely blew it.

Another gryphon stepped forward, this one was a little smaller than Lazaris and had deep brownish feathers with a hint of red in the tips. "Please excuse him. He can be a little brash at times."

"So we noticed," Boq grumbled. Fiyero nudged him.

"He only means the best for us. As you know, times have not been kind to us, and if what I have heard lately is true, times have not been kind to you, either."

Dorothy glanced up at the gryphon, and her kind eyes were trained on her. Dorothy felt an unsettling feeling grow inside of her.

"I have heard that a great and close friend of yours had also fallen victim to Morrible." She shook her head sadly. "I am sorry."

Dorothy shook her head. "There's no need for that."

The gryphon unfolded her wing and draped it over Dorothy's shoulder and gave her a kind smile. "I promise I will help you. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything."

Dorothy smiled. "Don't worry. All I need now is some magic lessons from the greatest witch that ever lived," she said, hugging Elphaba. She stiffened, and Glinda tried to supress her fit of giggles.

"Oh, so you are a witch also?" the gryphon asked Dorothy with a note of surprise.

"And a very talented one, at that," Glinda boasted. Elphaba smiled shyly.

"Indeed she is," she said quietly.

"Please excuse me, but I need to stretch my wings for a moment. It's rather uncomfortable underground, as I am so accustomed to the sky," the gryphon said.

Elphaba gave her a worried glance. "I'm not sure if that's wise . . ."

"Oh, Elphie! Let her go! And if Morrible does see them, she can't get them! As far as I know, she can't fly!" Glinda said esasperately. The gryphon laughed as well.

"Don't worry, I'll keep low key. I've managed to remain undetected all these years; I daresay today won't be much different." The gryphon turned to Dorothy. "Would you like to go flying with me as well?"

Dotrothy's eyes widened. "You mean ride on your back? Seriously?" She then smiled broadly and clasped her hands excitedly in front of her "That would be awesome! I'd love to!"

Elphaba did not like this at all. She was worried about Dorothy. What if they got caught or she got hurt?

Fiyero smiled as he listened to them talk. "That sounds like a great idea. Go ahead, but be careful," he said happily.

Before Elphaba could voice her concerns, the gryphon and Dorothy had already sprinted off to the barrack's entrances and out into the mountains.

Glinda smiled at Elphaba. "Oh, stop worrying. She'll be fine."

"Yeah, and I'm confident she knows enough to take care of herself," Boq said. "Oh, and uh, before I forget, Elphaba . . . I want to say-"

"Thank you," Elphaba whispered with a small smile, meeting his gaze.

"What?"

"Thank you for what you said to Lazaris." Her smile broadened. "I'm glad you're no longer angry at me. Thank you for forgiving me."

"Thank you for saving my life," Boq said with a small smile.

"Hey, Elphaba, why don't you join them? You haven't been out flying in ages," Fiyero said.

Elphaba glanced down at the floor shyly. "I . . ."

Fiyero pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead with his coarse burlap lips. "Oh, go on. Go fly. I'm positive you hate being cooped up in here all the time as well."

Elphaba nodded, and retreated to her room to gather her broomstick. She hadn't flown it in such a long time, and now finally having the opportunity to finally be free again excited her.

And just for laughs, she grabbed her black pointed hat and slapped it on her head. She smiled mischieviously, feeling just a little bit . . . wicked.

Just outside the entrance to the barracks, Dorothy and the gryphon were getting ready to take off, with Dorothy sitting comfortably on the gryphon's back, her legs just in front of the wing oints, and carefully holding to the feathers on the gryphon's neck.

The gryphon looked at Elphaba and smiled. "Ah, changed your mind, I see," she said with a chittering laugh.

"Oh, please. Someone needs to keep an eye on you," Elphaba said seriously, but with a smirk. She mounted her own broom, and the gryphon flexed its wings and stretched them out to their full length. They were enormous; at least twenty feet long. Dorothy gave her the thumbs up, and with one powerful beat of its wings, the gryphon shot off into the sky.

Elphaba pushed off the ground and flew off after them, and the exhilirated feeling of weightlessness enveloped her, making her giddy with excitement. She had forgotten how absolutely wonderful flying was. A whoop of joy sounded from Dorothy, a clear indication she was feeling the exact same thrill.

Higher and higher they climbed into the sky. Elphaba closed her eyes and felt the cool wind whip through her hair, then looked down to see the world grow smaller and smaller. What an exhiliration! The thrill! Beyond anything else she could describe.

"Holy shi-i-i-t!!" Dorothy cried with ecstasy. "This is a million times better than a roller coaster!"

"What's a roller coaster?" the gryphon asked curiously.

"Never mind," Dorothy called back over the roar of the wind. "Oh, god! I don't even know your name!"

The gryphon laughed. "It's Freefall!" she said. "Wanna know how I got my name?"

"Hell yeah!"

The gryphon pulled its wings close to its body and dive-bombed straight down to earth. Dorothy clutched the gryphon for dear life, but instead of fear, she felt a wonderful rush of adrenaline. She felt completely weightless and fell faster and faster, closer and closer to the mountains below. Dorothy's eyes began to tear up from the high speed winds blowing past her face, and it was impossible to supress the smile on her face.

This was the most awesome experience of her life!

Just a mere dozen or so feet from solid rock, Freefall thrust her wings out to full length and pulled out of the dive, and circling straight back up into the sky. Dorothy screamed from the sheer thrill of experiencing the intense G-forces.

"THAT WAS AWESOOOOME!" she screamed. "Oh, man! I gotta do this more often!"

Elphaba flew up next to them and smiled. "Glad to see you two are quite enjoying yourselves," she said lightly.

"Hey, you wanna race?" Dorothy challenged.

Elphaba raised an eyebrow, a little unsure, but nodded. "Of course! Where to?"

Freefall thought for a minute while gliding on the air currents. "How about to the plains and back?"

Elphaba smiled mischieviously. "You're on."

"GO!" Dorothy yelled, and they all shot off into the horizon. Dorothy leaned forward, close to Freefall, and she could feel the powerful beats of her wings. The roar of the wind deafened her.

She glanced sideways and saw Elphaba soaring by right next to them, her long black hair flying out behind her, keeping her body close to her broom and flying as fast as a bullet.

They were neck and neck, Freefall pulling ahead for a moment only to have Elphaba catch up and speed past them for a bit before Freefall caught up to her. They continued their dance back and forth throughout the race, flying faster and faster every minute.

Dorothy looked at the landscape below her and watched it blaze by in a blur of colors. They passed the mountain range and were now flying over a thick hilly forest, an occassional river shining below through the dense tree foliage. Freefall dove into the tops of the trees and zoomed skillfully between the branches, ducking, diving, twisting, turning, missing huge branches by only inches. Elphaba followed them and weaved through the branched with just as much agility and skill.

The forest stopped suddenly, and they burst through the leaves to a wide open plain, nothing but fields of rolling grasses for miles on end. Freefall dove close to the ground and was skimming just over the tips of the grasses, then pulled up high into the air. They were about a thousand feet or so high, and began to circle around to return back to the barracks when Dorothy's keen vision spotted something in the fields below.

"Hey, what's that?" she shouted to Freefall, pointing down. Freefall squinted.

"It looks like an Animal, or animal," she said uncertainly. "I can't tell from up here."

"Want to get closer?"

Freefall shrugged, and tipped her body downwards. They were now about a hundred feet or so high, and Dorothy could clearly see it was neither an Animal nor an animal.

It was a man. From this distance, she could not identfy much, but she could see he was walking with a painful limp, and appeared to be in a great deal of pain and gravely injured.

Dorothy, feeling very anxious, urged Freefall to get closer. The man looked familiar . . .

"But what if he's one of Morrible's?" Freefall said questioningly. She was hesitating and refused to fly lower.

Dorothy didn't respond immediately. "Please, just fly a little lower. I need to find out who that is," she pleaded with Freefall. Grudgingly, Freefall complied, circling lower and lower towards the mysterious figure. The details became more defined and more recognizeable. The man was indeed badly injured and was clutching the side of his chest. He was covered in blood. Worried for the sake of the unknown man, Dorothy strained her eyes to make out who it was. It couldn't be one of Morrible's. He was obviously another victim.

she voiced her thoughts to Freefall, and she nodded. "Good thing we saw him then, or else he would have died," Freefall said with a note of concern.

THey dropped lower and lower until they were practically right on top of them. And then the man looked up, straight into Dorothy's eyes

She knew who it was. And when she recognized the man, she screamed.

Elphaba had flown next to them, and landed, looking with absolute shock at the man.

"How in the name of God?!" Elphaba shrieked. "It's not possible!!

Freefall, confused and worried, landed as well. Dorothy immediately jumped off Freefall's back and ran at the man and did not stop until she had tackled him and they were both laying on the ground. Dorothy began to furiously kiss him, hardly daring to believe her eyes, praying that it wasn't a dream, but reality.

And it was. She gripped him tightly and buried her head in his chest, deeply inhaling his scent, touching every inch of him to make sure he was really there.

"Yeah, I missed you too," he said hoarsely.

"Oh, Jesus, Mary and Joseph! Oh god, how the hell are you still alive?! This can't possibly be real!"

He looked up at her and smiled, cupping her face with a bruised and bloodied hand.

"It is," Hunk whispered, then he passed out.


	19. Something's Just Not Right

**I know this chapter feels very short and sudden, but . . . I need to get this story moving a little. Besides . . . I'm not sure what else to add to this chapter.**

* * *

I collapsed on top of him and felt tears of joy streaming down my face. I could not believe it! Hunk was still alive!

But a part of me kept myself from experiencing a full out emotional collapse. He was gravely injured. He was bleeding, and no doubt he had some broken bones. Shoving my emotions aside for the time being, I completely focused myself onto treating Hunk's wounds.

Using a simple spell, I ran my hand up and down his torso to see inside his body, like a X-Ray, to detect any broken bones. Three of his ribs were fractured, another four were completely broken, his right arm was also broken, and he was covered with large bruises and gashes. First, I focused my energy into mending his broken bones. I cast another spell over his chest, and my hand started to glow brightly as I traced my hand over his broken bones. They were mended quickly, but I knew it was painful. It was a good thing Hunk was unconscious. If he wasn't, he would have been screaming in agony.

After I finished healing his bones in chest and arm and fixing the more severe bruises and gashes, I turned to examine his legs. My eyes darted to his right foot, which was covered in a brownish-black boot. A searing image of his foot, mutilated and horribly disfigured, flashed before my eye. I could never forget the horrid things Morrible had done to him. I hesitated, hardly daring myself to even look at it.

Elphaba knelt down besides me, and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder. She looked at me with an expression that said everything that couldn't be said. I summoned up every ounce of my courage, and with shaky hesitant hands, I undid his laces on the boot.

In my mind I could hear his screams of agony, hear the snapping bone, see the blood pool on the floor. I winced at the thought of those terrible images. I slowly and carefully pulled off the boot, and braced myself for whatever horror I was about to witness.

But his foot was completely intact. No scars, no bruises, no scrapes, no cuts, no scratches, hell, not even a damned hangnail! There was no sign of the terrible carnage he had endured. Weeping with joy, I bent down and kissed his foot.

His foot twitched. "Heh heh, stop, that tickles . . ." he muttered wearily.

I jumped up and fell on top of him, wrapping my arms tightly around his head and kissing him full on the lips. He leaned up and kissed me back, exhausted, but still smiling.

"Hunk, what the hell happened?!" I cried. "How are you still alive? You died! I swear to God, I saw you die! It's not possible you're here! I can't believe it."

Hunk leaned up on his elbow and looked at me with a wide grin. It was only then that I noticed how bad his condition really was. His skin was pasty and pale, he looked half-starved and huge black circles rimmed his eyes. I gripped his hand and inhaled sharply. His hand was freezing!

"Hunk, we need to know what happened. How did you survive, and how did you escape from Morrible?" Elphaba demanded gently.

"I'll explain everything once we get back to the headquarters," he said, his voice heavy with fatigue.

"You mean the barracks?" Elphaba said.

He nodded. "Yeah that's what I meant. I want to tell everyone else as well. You really need to hear what I have to say."

Freefall came up besides him and knelt down next to him. "Here, put him on my back. I'll carry him."

Hnk stared in awe at the gryphon. "Oh, wow, a live gryphon . . . I thought you guys were extinct."

"No, they went into hiding years ago, and now they're going to help us fight," I explained to Hunk patiently. Of course he wouldn't have known that; he was captured and thrown in jail before Fiyero discovered the gryphons.

He nodded once again before he slipped back off into unconsciousness.

I helped him up onto Freefall's back, and rode right behind him, holding him tightly, never wishing to part with him. I cried with joy, and kissed him all across his face. I was complete again. The whole in my heart had been filled. I was finally ok, everything was going to be ok now.

* * *

When we returned, Hunk finally woke again. We were outside the barack's entrance, and Hunk was feeling well enough to stand and walk on his own. I insisted on helping him, and draped one of his arms around my shoulder, and he leaned on me slightly, relieving the strain on his exhausted body. Elphaba was silent, too stunned for words, and Freefall didn't say anything either. I was excited beyond words. I couldn't wait to tell the others!

We went inside, and soon, we saw Fiyero, sitting at a table, with his back towards us. He appeared to be writing something. I could hardly contain myself and I wanted to burst with the good news!

"Hey, Fiyero!" I said excitedly.

"Oh, you're back. How was it?" he said distantly without looking at us.

"Why don't you see?"

Fiyero turned around, confused, but when he saw Hunk, he rose to his feet very slowly, not taking his eyes off him, and his face was covered in a mask of shock and disbelief.

"No way . . ." he whispered. "But . . . oh, sweet Oz!"

He ran towards us, and gripped Hunk's shoulders, hardly believing he was really there. He smiled broadly, and he embraced Hunk tightly, giving him a suffocating bear hug.

"Nice to see you too, Scarecrow!" Hunk said hoarsely. He patted Fiyero on the back. "I hate to admit it, but I missed you guys!"

"Hunk, this is unbelieveable! I . . . I don't know what to say! How- what- I have so many questions! But first, how did you survive?!"

"Where's everyone else?" Hunk said. "I'll tell you everything once everyone's here."

"Of course, I'll be right back," Fiyero said, then burst off into the caverns in search of Boq, Glinda, and Osio.

I helped Hunk sit down into a nearby chair, and Hunk exhaled raggedly, groaning in discomfort. I sat next to him and refused to let go of my embrace. I was never going to let him go or out of my sight again. Elphaba was also standing next to Hunk, and placed a hand on his shoulder, silent tears falling from her eyes. But she looked concerned about something.

"What's up?" I asked her.

She snapped to attention, startled. "Oh! Nothing, nothing . . ."

Not a minute later, we heard Fiyero talking excitedly to Glinda, Boq, and Osio as they ran towards the cavern we were in.

"You guys won't believe it!" he was saying.

"For crying out loud, what is it, already?!" Boq demanded.

They rounded the corner into the room, and stopped dead in their tracks when they saw Hunk. There was dead silence for a second, then Glinda screamed.

"Oh, sweet Lurline!!"

"WHAT?!" Boq yelled, his metal jaw wide open. "But . . . you're dead!!"

Osio was so shocked he had to sit down, and placed a paw on the top of his head. "I . . . can't believe this!" he muttered. "This . . . this is . . ."

"A miracle!" I bursted, squeezing Hunk. I gave him a kiss on the cheek, and with a smile, he kissed me back. "Now, tell us what happened!"

Hunk sighed, rubbing his head. "Well, I don't even know the whole story, I can't remember everything too well, but I'll tell you what I do know." he hesitated, and everyone gathered around him, and listened intently to his every word. "After Morrible tortured and . . . well, before I start, it's important to know that I did die, for a moment, anyway. But then Morrible brought me back to life."

"Why?" Elphaba asked.

Hunk hesitated yet again before going on. "She was going to use me as a spy. She only revived me so I could be brainwashed to be loyal to her, then infiltrate the barracks and tell Morrible everything about us," he said bitterly. "She was going to force me to be on her side!"

"Then what happened?" Glinda asked.

"First and foremost, she completely healed all of my injuries. Including my foot." He shuddered. "I swear, I thought I was going to pass out when she . . ." He didn't need to finish his sentence.

I rubbed his shoulders comfortingly, and silently urged him to go on.

"But how did you escape?" Fiyero said.

"After she healed me, she locked me in a cell. I was barely conscious at the time, but I started to get my energy back. When I had fully regained my strength, I slipped out of the cuffs and managed to pick the lock. I ambushed a nearby guard and took his uniform to disguise myself, then slipped out of the palace."

"Then how did you get injured?" I asked. "When we found you, you were almost dead!"

"A few guards recognized me, and I had no choice but to fight my way out. I managed to kill them, but not before they did a number on me. I tried to get away from the Emerald City as fast as I could before more guards could discover me." He looked up at me and smiled. "Thank god you found me. I would have died if you hadn't!"

I kissed him. "And now I'm never letting you out of my sight again! I'm going to stick to you like stink on a fly!"

"Jee, that doesn't sound very pleasant," he teased, pouting. "But it'll have to do, I guess."

"Come on, you need rest. I'll help you back to your room, and you can go get some sleep," I said, then lifted him up on his feet. Before we left, Glinda and Boq both tackled him with hugs, and Glinda kissed him numerous times.

"Oh, Hunk, you have no idea how happy I am to see you alive!" she cried.

"Thank you, miss," he said with a smile. "I'm happy to see all of you."

"I can hardly believe my eyes!" Boq said, tears falling down his eyes. "And I want to thank you for the armor."

"What armor?" Hunk asked, confused.

"The armor you had made for me. You know, the ones with the spikes on it and everything . . ." Boq said, but his voice faded as he looked at Hunk with concern.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I never made you any armor," Hunk said, only growing more confused.

I shook my head. "Well, all the more proof you need to really lie down. I think you're suffering a bit from memory loss. And I can't blame you." I helped him make his way back into the barrack's main corridors, with everyone else following me, and soon arrived at his room. I heped him onto the bead, and with a gentle kiss, he fell into a deep sleep as soon as his head touched the pillow.

I smiled, and pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat with him, caressing his face. I felt an intense longing in my heart to never leave him. I loved him so much, and nothing else seemed to matter other than the fact that Hunk was alive, and was with me.

"I'm so happy," I said, tears streaming from my face. I turned to the others. "If you don't want to stay here . . ."

"No, it's quite alright," Elphaba reassured.

Osio smiled, but wrinkled his nose in disgust. This somehow annoyed me, but why, I couldn't explain.

"Is there something wrong, Osio?" I asked.

"It's nothing, really. I just inhaled something that smelled very foul," he said hastily, rubbing his nose.

Shrugging whatever uncertainty I had left, I turned back to Hunk and gripped his hand. It was still ice cold.

"His hand is freezing!" I whispered, keeping my voice low to keep him from waking. "I'll go get him some extra blankets." I ran to an empty room and pulled off the thick comforter and ran back, draping the blanket over Hunk. I rested on top of him, hugging him tightly. I suddenly felt very tired, and I slowly began to fade into a blissful sleep, wrapped in Hunk's strong, comforting arms.

"I'll stay here with him," I said wearily. "I might as well get some sleep, too, ok?"

Elphaba nodded. "Of course."

"If he wakes, please tell us; there's much I'd like to talk to him about," Fiyero said.

I nodded in reply, and my eyes began to slowly shut.

Before I fell asleep, a sudden unpleasant scent whifted through my nose. It was the smell of decay and death, of rotted flesh and dried blood, coming from Hunk. But he just spent the last few days in prison, not to mention, he had been brutally tortured. Who wouldn't carry the stench of death around with them if someone had been through all he had? With that thought in mind, I faded off to sleep, kissing Hunk one last time on the cheek.

* * *

Elphaba, Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, and Osio left Dorothy and Hunk in the room, and silently shut the door behind them. When they did, Elphaba lept into Fiyero arms and sobbed with joy and relief.

"Oh, Fiyero! I can't believe it, but it's true!"

"I know! It's . . . I can't even think of anything to say to explain how absolutely wonderful this is!" Fiyero said, hugging her tightly.

Osio smiled. "I am truly happy for her. Yet . . ." he paused before going on, his eyes growing worried and somber. "I just can't shake the feeling that something isn't quite right . . ."

"What are you talking about?" Boq said harshly. "You've seen it for yourself! He's alive and back to his old self again!"

"But he didn't remember about the armor."

"I assume anyone who was brought back from the dead would suffer from some memory loss," Boq said, folding his arms. "Right, Fiyero?"

Fiyero shuddered, and Boq felt a little ashamed for bringing it up, but it was true. Hadn't Fiyero forgotten his past completely when he was resurrected? Why should Hunk be any different?

"The only thing I'm curious about is how Morrible resurrected him without . . . without any physical side affects, other from a slight loss of memory," Elphaba said thoughtfully.

Glinda shrugged. "I'm sure she knows a spell or two. She is a very powerful witch, after all."

"Yeah, maybe . . ."

"Guys, we shouldn't be doubting ourselves!" Fiyero said. "We have no reason to!"

"No reason for what?"

Fiyero turned around. Ferior was standing behind them, confused, and on edge.

"Ferior, you won't believe it! Hunk's alive!" Glinda squealed with delight.

Ferior's jaw dropped. "What?!"

"It's true," Fiyero said with a smile. "We only just brought him back, and-"

"Where is he?" Ferior demanded hotly.

Fiyero was thrown off at Ferior's sudden hostility. "Why?"

"He could be a spy!" Ferior said. "Morrible's using him!"

"Don't be ridiculous! He said it himself that Morrible was going to use him as a spy, but he escaped before she could," Fiyero said.

Ferior's hostility seemed to lessen, but he was still suspicious.

"It just doesn't feel right," he muttered. "I don't like it."

"Ferior, your concern is understandible, but rest assured, it is not needed," Elphaba said. "If Hunk was under a spell of Morrible's and was posing as a spy for her, I would be able to detect her magical aurora around him."

Ferior nodded, but he still did not appear completely convinced. "Well, if that's the case . . . I apologize."

"It's quite alright; I understand," Fiyero said.

"But we still need to plan our attack on Morrible; the army is now ready. And let's not forget; we're under a time schedule. In a few days, give or take, Morrible will have her army of tin soldiers ready. We need to attack before she gets the chance to try out her new toys."

Fiyero nodded. "I already have a plan. I'll discuss it when Hunk awakes."

* * *

There was something very foul in the air.

Lazaris could feel the presence of something evil, and very close. And so did all the other Animals. He could feel it in every fiber of his being, screaming out that there was something very, very wrong.

But what was it that got him so on edge?

Desnax, his trusted Hyena friend, sensed it also, and paced around the caverns anxiously.

"This isn't good," she snarled. "I'm going to go mad unless I find out what it is that's bothering me so!"

Lazaris's tail twitched. He needed to find Elphaba and tell her that something was wrong. Fortunately, he didn't have to go far to find her. And cuddling up with the straw man, no less. Lazaris hissed quietly. He didn't trust him one bit. Why did Elphaba?

"Lady Elphaba," he said respectfully.

She turned around. Her eyes flashed with a hint of anger, but it vanished instantly. She gave a small smile.

"Yes, what can I do for you?" she said pleasantly. She was happy. Very, very happy. Lazaris wanted to know why she was feeling so cheery when any idiot could sense that there was a deathly feel in the atmosphere.

"Lady Elphaba, I wish to voice a concern of mine," he said politely. The scarecrow looked a bit angry, but Lazaris wasn't concerned with him. "I believe that there is an evil presence in the caverns. There's something that doesn't feel right, and all the other Animals have noticed it too."

Elphaba exchanged glances with Fiyero, both looking worried, but Elphaba shook her head.

"There is no reason for your concerns. I assure you that there is nothing wrong."

"The scent of death is heavy in the air!" Desnax growled. "Can you not smell it?!"

"She is right; I have visited prisons before and never before have I felt such a strong presence of death and decay," Lazaris said.

"You're wrong!" Fiyero yelled suddenly. "There is nothing here for you to be worried about!"

"Hunk . . ." whispered Elphaba. "What if it's Hunk?!"

Fiyero turned to her. "Don't say that! There's nothing wrong with him! He's fine, and recovering well, you said it yourself!"

"Hunk, as in the man who was captured and killed by Morrible?!" Desnax snarled.

"We found him, alive, and-"

Desnax did not wait for her to finish. She bolted off to his room, with Lazaris right behind her. Elphaba and Fiyero grew sick with worry and ran off after them. The closer and closer she ran to Hunk's room, the stronger and stronger the sickening scent became.

She ran straight at the door, which slammed opened. Dorothy woke with a scream, and Hunk jerked awake as well. Desnax almost recoiled as a large dose of the toxic fumes hit her full-force. How could the humans not smell it?!

"What the hell are you doing?!" Dorothy screeched.

"Do you mind? Get out!" Hunk grumbled.

"NO!" Desnax snapped. Lazaris, Fiyero, and Elphaba had also just arrived, and crowded inside the small room.

"Elphaba, what the hell is going on?" Dorothy yelled.

Osio, who was nearby, also approached them. "What is the meaning of this?!" he roared. He approached Desnax, snarling viciously. "How dare you disrupt him! He needs to rest and recover! Who do you think you are to come barging in on him?!"

"Have you also lost your sense of smell?!" Desnax snarled. "He wreaks of death! He's not one of us!! He's one of them! _He's a spy for Morrible!!"_

"No, he isn't!" Osio growled.

"His mind may be alive, but his body is dead!!" Desnax roared

There was dead silence, no one knowing what to make of Desnax's statement. Suddenly, Elphaba shrieked and curled up into a ball on the floor, sobbing. Fiyero leaped to her side and gripped her shoulders, looking at her right in the eye

"Fae, what's wrong?! What's the matter?" he asked.

"Necro-reincarnation!!" she shrieked. _"He's a necro-reincarnation! _Oh, sweet Oz, how could I not have seen it before?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Hunk demanded hotly. "And what the hell's a necro-reincarnation?!"

Elphaba stood on shaky legs and approached him, her eyes wide and wet with tears. She grabbed his face and looked directly into his eyes. She supressed another scream. There was no denying it now. There was no life in his eyes. No fire, no light, no glimmer of life in his dead eyes. And his skin was as cold as the dead.

"Morrible _is_ using you!" Elphaba sobbed. "She is controling you like a puppet! Your body is dead, and Morrible is controlling your mind!"

Dorothy jumped off the bed, furious. "Shut up!! How can you be sure?!"

"There's only one way to find out," Elphaba whispered. She rose her right hand and murmured a long and complex spell. Her arm started to glow a bright electric blue, and with a swift punch, she struck Hunk right in the middle of his forehead. Her arm went _through_ his skull, and when her arm had passed completely through, she was holding a ball of red light. And the light was struggling to get back inside of Hunk's mind, snaking long tendrils of light around Elphaba and to Hunk. But Elphaba kept the light at bay, pushing it away from Hunk with all her strength.

When Elphaba removed the red light from Hunk, he collapsed on top of the bed, completely limp. Dorothy screamed, and ran to his side, looking down at him, for any sign of life.

His eyes suddenly burst open, and he jumped to his feet, grabbing Dorothy's arms desperately. A horrified and pained expression covered his face, and Dorothy began sobbing when the horrible truth revealed itself.

_"Don't let her control me!!"_ he screamed. _"Don't let her back inside my head!!"_

* * *

**What can I say? I'm a cruel, heartless bitch. **

**Thought you guys would have figured that out by now.**


	20. Declaration Of War

"Oh, my god!" I screamed. "Oh no!"

Elphaba, although struggling to keep the red light from reentering Hunk's body, was also on her knees, crying. "I should have known! I should have known Morrible would use him!"

But I knew that now, he was free. Everything was alright now. It has to be. We freed him from Morrible's control! It was going to be ok!

"Don't worry, Hunk!" I said. "You'll be ok! You're out of Morrible's control, and everything's going to be alright now!"

"No! No it's not!" he cried.

"What do you mean?" I demanded. "She's not controlling you any more! You're going to be ok now!"

"Dorothy, Dorothy, listen to me!" Hunk said, grabbing my arms and shaking me. "I don't have much time! In a few minutes, Morrible's magic will wear off, my body will die, and my soul will be lost! Dorothy, you must kill me before the spell runs out!"

I couldn't comprehend his words. I couldn't hear him. I refused to accept the horrible truth that I was going to lose him again. No! There had to be another way! What he said couldn't possibly be true!

"NO!!" I screamed. I refused to believe what he had just said! He- he wants me to kill him! I couldn't have him taken from me again! I was so stunned I couldn't speak for several moments. "Hunk, I can't kill you! I love you! How can you-"

"If you love me, then you will do this for me!" Hunk pleaded, tears running down his face. "Dorothy, being possessed by Morrible is a hundred times worse than the torture I had endured! A hundred times!"

I shook my head. No! This can't be happening! How can this be real?! I couldn't accept this! Hunk didn't deserve any of this! NO!!

"There has to be another way!" I begged. "There has to be! I can't let you die!"

Hunk shook his head violently. "There s no other option Dorothy! You must kill me!"

_"NO!!"_

"Dorothy, Listen to him!" Elphaba shouted, teeth clenched. "This light is the only thing that has kept him alive and under Morrible's control! With the light removed, his soul only has a limited time to remain in his body before it is lost forever! You must kill him to free his soul and release him of Morrible's control!!" Elphaba's strength was weakening, and the light grew closer and closer to Hunk. Elphaba screamed in brutal protest. "DOROTHY, YOU MUST DO THIS!! I can't hold this off forever!!"

"I can't!" I sobbed, shaking my head, tears falling down my cheeks. "I can't! I can't! I can't kill you!"

Fiyero's face was twisted with pain, and he pulled out a dagger from his tunic, and raised it to pierce Hunk's heart.

"Hunk, I am so sorry!" Fiyero yelled.

"NO!" Hunk screamed. "She must do it!"

"Why?!" I yelled.

"There's no time to explain!" He grabbed the dagger and forced the hilt in my hand, and pointed the blade tip right at his heart. "Please, do it. You must do it!"

I flinched as his ice-cold hand encompassed mine, and tears fell onto his hands as I stared down at the blade. Even if what he told me was true, I couldn't bring myself to do it. I couldn't kill him!

"Dorothy, _please_! We're running out of time!" Hunk pleaded. "Dorothy, I'm begging you! Please, don't let her control me again! It's absolute hell! I can remember everything I had said and did, but I have absolutely no control over my own body! Please!" His hands squeezed my shoulders, and he looked at me with teary, pleading eyes. He kissed my forehead, tears continuously falling from his eyes. "I know I promised I would always be there for you, but you must now be here for me! If you honestly, truly love me, then you will not let Morrible control me! please Dorothy! I can't stand it!"

I continued to sob, the dagger shaking in my hands. Hunk's grip started to lessen, and his strength began to fail him.

"DOROTHY, DO IT NOW!!" Fiyero yelled, panicking.

"P-please," he whispered. His legs began to shake, and his legs gave out beneath him. Still firmly gripping my shoulders, he dragged me down to the floor with him, the dagger still in my hands. He hit the floor hard, and his grip loosened and flopped lifelessly to his sides. He was lying flat on his back with his arms outspread, almost beckoning me to kill him. I could almost see his life draining from his body. "Do it . . . please . . ."

I screamed. I hated this! But I had no choice. I had to choose the lesser of two evils. I couldn't let Morrible win! I couldn't let Hunk suffer any longer! Shutting my eyes tightly, I summoned every ounce of my courage and plunged the dagger straight through his chest, and right through his heart. Hunk gasped, his voice full of pain, but he looked up at me with a wide grin and tired, sad eyes.

Once again, I saw the fire in his eyes slowly die, slowly diminish. No! What have I done?! I couldn't lose him again! My heart couldn't take it anymore!

"Thank you so much, Dorothy. I'm proud of you. And I love you so . . . very . . . much."

And with one final painful gasp, his head fell back against the floor, and his eyes slowly shut to enter into an eternal slumber.

There was a terrible screeching wail that sounded through the cavern, louder than anything I have heard before. Grimancing, I clasped my hands over my ears, but the shriek could not be blocked. It was coming from the light!

The red light, which was still clutched in Elphaba's hand, started to thrash around like a dying animal. It swelled, and the horrid noise intensified, before it finally exploded in a firework of light. The scream stopped suddenly, but it could still be heard echoing around the caverns.

Shaking, sobbing, about to lose control of myself with grief, I looked down at Hunk, this time truly dead, truly gone. The dagger hilt protruded from his chest, and I removed it with as much care as my shaking hands would allow. I stared at him, truly looking at him for the first time in days. His golden blonde hair fell around his face, and I tenderly stroked a stray lock behind his ear. His lips were parted ever so slightly, and I bent down and kissed him gently on his lips, cold as ice. But I didn't care.

I fell over him, clutching his dead body and cradling him in my arms. I grasped his head with one arm and buried my face in his hair, sobbing my eyes out. How could someone be so cruel? How could someone do such a thing to him?! Why did he have to die?!

Arms wrapped around me, but I paid no attention to them. It was the same twisted nightmare all over again. But this time, I was the one that killed him! I murdered him!

Why did he have to die?! Him, of all people! He was so strong, he was the one who always pulled me up when I fell, he was everything to me! I loved him too much to let him die like this! He didn't deserve this! He didn't deserve to die in such a humiliating and horrible way! He should have died with honor, with as much honor as a hero, because that's what he was- no, that's what he is, god damn it! He is a hero! I know no one else as brave and strong as he was! I have never seen another person die such a horrible death so willingly for such a cause.

I couldn't let this happen. I couldn't let him die like this!!

But as much as it hurt, as much as it shattered my heart to admit it, Hunk, my beloved Anthony, my savior, my angel, my heart, my reason for even existing, was gone. And no spell that existed, no matter how powerful, could bring him back now.

"Fuck this!" I screamed. "Why?! Oh, god, oh, god, why?!"

Elphaba held me tight, crying as well. She was silent though, and stared down at Hunk's dead body with pure sadness. And fury.

"Morrible will pay for this," she hissed through clenched teeth. "I will kill her!"

Fiyero was standing off to the side, his head down, and shaking from head to foot in absolute rage. I saw the most intense anger I have ever witnessed in his blue eyes.

A sudden noise snapped us back to attention. It sounded like a low howling noise, like the noise of wind through tree branches. An orb of light formed in the middle of the room, and began to grow. It was at first dull but the intensity of the light increased greatly, almost blinding me. And from the light, I heard a voice, laughing.

It was Morrible's voice!

The light began to shape into a a silhouette of her face, and I saw her, staring at us with a cruel smile. My sadness instantly evaporated, and was now replaced with hatred that reverberated through my very bones.

"MORRIBLE!!" I screamed. "I'll kill you, you sick bitch!"

She laughed again. "I doubt it, dearie! You couldn't save a human life! How do you expect to take one?"

"SHUT UP!" I shrieked, tears streaming down my face.

"Morrible! You damn coward! How could you kill someone that was completely helpless?!" Fiyero roared, pointing at her. "You humiliated him and tortured him with the most vile methods I have ever seen! You're SICK! You are a desgrace to humanity, and deserve to rot in hell!"

"And this is coming from the straw-stuffed freak," she mused cruelly.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Fiyero roared, pointing at her. "How can you do such a thing?!"

"I have my reasons," she laughed coldly. "Now I have one less rebel to worry about! Your cause is hopeless! I'll hunt you down and kill you all! Oh, and I forgot to mention! I placed a tracking spell on your precious friend's body! And now I know exactly where you are hiding! I am coming for you, and when I find you, I will slaughter every last one of you!"

"Go ahead and try!" Fiyero challenged. "We'll be waiting for you!"

"Is this a challenge?" Morrible questioned coyly.

"THIS IS A DECLARATION OF WAR!" Fiyero yelled. "You can bet your huge ass ths is a challenge! We will show no mercy towards you or your troops! We will kill every last one of them to rid the world of your tyranny!"

"You? Defeat me? HA!" Morribe laughed. "You have no hope! I have far more troops than you, and I have far more weapons! You are fighting a losing battle, Fiyero!"

"We'll see about that!" Fiyero growled.

"Think about it," she insisted. "You have Animals fighting for you! They cannot hold weapons! They cannot shoot bows or arrows! They cannot hold a shield or sword! Your army will be dead by the time it takes you to cross the battle field! You may as well surrender. Maybe I'll spare your pathetic lives if you do so."

"We will never, ever surrender to you!" I said angrily. "I would rather die than be under your rule!"

"Be careful what you wish for, my pretty!" Morrible sneered. "So then you have sealed your own fate. Your army against my own. It's a foolish fight, but if you insist, so be it."

"We'll be waiting," Fiyero snarled. "And you have just made the biggest mistake of your life! You have wrought a fury like no other! We will have no mercy!"

With a cold laugh, Morrible's image faded, and she was gone.

I screamed with pain, with fury and rage. I will not stand for this!

I felt an incredible amount of energy surge through me. I could feel my magic take over my body and control me. And I did nothing to stop it. I wanted to feel it, relish the power I had inside me, and savored the image of using it to destroy Morrible, to kill her in the most hideous fashion I could imagine. I wasn't going to let someone so vile and utterly evil get away with something like this! I was going to kill her, and anyone else that tried to stop me! So help her, I was going to kill anyone who stood in my way!

The furniture in the room began to shake violently, and the bedroom door slammed open and closed. I was doing it, but had no recollection of any of it. Only one thought filled my mind.

_Kill Morrible! She doesn't deserve to live! she has destroyed so many lives, she can never be forgiven!_

_Kill that bitch!!_

Elphaba lept at me and threw her arms around me, embracing me lovingly, like a mother. She sobbed as she buried her face in the top of my head, and I could feel my energy lessen, and the magical surge slowly begin to fade. I instantly felt ashamed for losing control like that. I hugged her back, and sobbed into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I . . . I can't take it! I can't!"

"Shh, hush, you have no reason to be sorry," she whispered to me. "You have every right to be angry. But save your energy for the battle to come."

I looked up at her. "You're really going to let me fight?"

She looked down at me with fire in her eyes and a set jaw, determination and revenge outlined in her features. "How can I not let you fight? You have an astounding talent in magic. Your offensive spells are very powerful. You'll be of great use in battle."

I gripped her tighter. "Morrible will pay for what she has done," I said, still crying. "Her wickedness will be punished."

* * *

Not long afterwards, we sought out Glinda and Boq, who were talking with some Animals, and took them off to the side and slowly told them all that had happened. They couldn't believe it. They couldn't accept the truth that Morrible would do such a thing to any person. Glinda was devastated beyond words, and Boq was so stunned he couldn't think of anything to say, or even what to do. He slumped up against the wall in utter defeat, staring down at his hands, oily tears leaking from his wide, blank eyes.

The Animals overheard us, though. They had heard about Hunk, how he had sacrificed himself for them, how he had willingly died protecting them, and each of them felt they needed to pay their last respects to him. In a slow march, we went back to Hunk's room to give him the respectable treatment he deserved.

I wasn't with them, though. I was alone in the room with Hunk, holding him, clutching to the only thing I had left from my old life. He was the only thing that ever meant something to me, and now, he had been taken from me. I cried for a good long time, weeping out my anguish and pain. When they had returned, I could hardly bring myself to let him go so they may prepare his body for a proper funeral. We placed him on the bed and Elphaba gently draped a pure white sheet over his body. Glinda chanted a spell that would keep his body perfectly preserved until we buried him. Elphaba then transformed the bed into a stretcher and Fiyero and Boq grabbed it to carry his body away. Dozens of Animals watched outside as Fiyero and Boq carry Hunk to a separate wing. Each one bowed with respect, and each of them whispered a prayer for protection and safety. Some Animals attempted to comfort me, but I no longer cared enough to listen. Numb, I followed them into the medical chamber where they would place his body.

The room was empty of patients, but beds lined both walls and cabinets and shelves of medical equipment filled the room. Fiyero and Boq placed him on the farthest bed, and we crowded around him to pay our respects. I was still numb with pain and grief, tears continued to fall from my eyes, and I did not bother to wipe them away. Glinda embraced me, trying to console me, as she too wept with grief. Elphaba was saying something that sounded like a prayer or a song, but I couldn't force myself to listen to her. My mind couldn't comprehend what was going on around me. I only cared about Hunk. He was the only thing that mattered to me now.

I have no idea how long we stood there with our entourage of Animals before Fiyero finally turned and spoke to the Animals.

"Morrible has declared war on us," he said quietly and dangerously. "We must prepare to fight back. And bring back the justice Morrible has taken from us."

His voice was little louder than a whisper, but his words could be heard by all, and the Animals were quick to react. Many growled with anticipation, some with fear, but most with excitement at finally having the chance to have vengeance on the wrong Morrible has done.

The word spread quickly that we were to prepare for war. The battle was in as little as a few days, and everyone went in an absolute frenzy to prepare. Armor for the Animals was made quickly, and weapons were also being made as fast as possible for the hundred or so men who were on our side. Fiyero was often found in the training room, pacing back and forth resstlessly, rubbing his hands together in anticipation and anxiety. Elphaba did her best to teach me any other spells that could help me, and I tried my best to learn them, but I was so distraught I could hardly do the simplest of spells. I began to worry. Would I be able to perform when the time called for it?

I was so emotionally exhausted and strained I couldn't eat or sleep. I tossed and turned all night and horrible nightmares plagued my mind. Hunk would keep coming to me, draped in a bloodied white sheet, moaning in pain, screaming at me, blaming me for killing him. I woke screaming, and since sleep was useless, I too paced my room nervously. I was exhausted in every way, but nothing I could do could grant my body rest.

The next day came with even more activity, the caverns swarming with people and Animals preparing for the fight. I was all but oblivious to everything around me. I tried to eat, tried to regain my strength to be ready for the war, but nothing could work. Elphaba had to put me under a trance to even get me to eat a small meal. She looked ragged and exhausted too. Glinda looked no better.

With a sick feeling in my stomach, a terrible realization began to dawn on me.

We couldn't fight like this. Not with everyone tired and strained and exhausted. Had Fiyero been too impulsive to declare war so soon?

I had to push these thoughts out of my mind. I knew that worrying would do me no good. So I continued to practice my offensive spells, and gradually I was able to gain better control. But I was afraid it wouldn't be enough.

I was given some light armor to wear: chest plate, shoulder guards, arm guards, and leg guards. It fit nearly perfectly and allowed me plenty of room to move around freely, but it left most of my stomach exposed. I hoped it would be protection enough, if my blocking spells weren't. I was beginning to panic. Could we actually win this war?

But there was no time for second guessing. Before I knew it, the day of judgement was upon us. We were going into war the next day. Fiyero summoned everyone, Animals and humans, and even the women and children into the massive dining hall chamber, the only cavern big enough to hold everyone in one spot. Fiyero stood on a table and began his speech.

"My friends, my comrades, my allies," he began softly and slowly. There was dead silence. "The war is upon us. Tomorrow, we will go into battle, and face Morrible's army. I cannot guarantee the outcome, but I can say this much: we can not afford to second guess ourselves. Doubt leads to mistakes, and mistakes can lead to fatal injuries." He paused, looking everyone in the eye before going on. "You must be confident in yourselves and have faith that we will overcome this evil, that we will destroy our enemy who have robbed us of our homes, our rights, and our dignities, our families and friends." Many in the crowd owed their heads in respect, sadness in their eyes. "It is time to punish Morrible's evil deeds! This is the time to take back what is ours and to reclaim what we have lost! Many will lose their lives, but you will be forever honored as heroes for fighting for justice and equality!"

He paused as the Animals roared in agreement, bellowing a fierce battle cry. They were ready. Each and every one of them was willing to fight and die.

"Now listen! We must have a plan of attack! Morrible knows where we are hiding. We cannot leave the women and children here; Morrible will send troops to kill them."

"We can fight!" a voice in the crowds said. Fiyero turned. It was Boq's mother, no less. "Give us weapons, and we can ambush them when they try to come!"

The women muttered in agreement. Fiyero smiled, but he still had doubts.

"If that's what you would like, then so be it. You will be hiding in spare rooms, and ambush them once they reach the central cavern. Once in there, swarm them from all sides, and they will be trapped. Boq will be with you as well to aid in your fight."

Boq shot a look with a mix of anger and confusion at Fiyero. "But . . . won't I be of more value in the field?" he asked.

Fiyero shook his head. "You need to be with them to protect them. They need you more. Otherwise, they're defenseless. Please, protect the women and children."

Boq frowned, but nodded in agreement.

Fiyero then turned to Glinda. "Glinda, you must stay behind and do whatever you can for the injured. If at all possible, try to make it rain, if only a little. Can you do that?"

Glinda nodded hesitantly. "I . . . I will certainly try."

Fiyero placed a comforting hand on her shoulder before turning back to the crowds. "Now, all birds will carry a large amount of grenades for an aerial assault. Gryphons, as well. Use the grenades to wipe out the tin soldiers. Elphaba, you will be with them as well. Once you are out of grenades, retreat immediately! Gryphons can stay and fight, but all smaller birds, return to the barracks. If possible, pick up more grenades and go for a second assault. All men, first use bows and guns to attack long distance, then use your swords when your ammunition has run out. Have guns on you as well for short distance attacks."

He stole a quick glance at me. I looked back up at him, indifferent, not truly paying attention to what he was saying.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"We'll find out soon enough, won't we?" I responded weakly.


	21. Into the Gates of Hell

So it was set.

In less than twenty four hours, I would be out in the midst of a battle field, fighting, and killing. Everything seemed oblivious, meaningless, nothing mattered. Nothing except focusing on what I was about to do. But still, it was hard for me to focus on much of anything.

My hands shook uncontrollably, and I could barely stand on my own feet without my knees shaking. I couldn't sleep. I had to force myself to eat, to ready my body and replenish my energy. Every bite was agonizingly painful, and every swallow was like swallowing glass. Even though I drank ice cold water, it felt like my throat was burning.

Then, the fateful hour arrived. The troops were moving out, each covered in armor, each man holding a gun and a sword, and every Animal had specially designed armor that could provide more effective attacks: steel claws, spikes, horns, everything and anything that could help. The Birds and Gryphons did not wear any armor; it would be too heavy and would keep them from flying effectively.

Teriom flew up to Fiyero to load himself up with grenades. He would carry five total. It was all he could manage to carry safely. Fiyero carefully strapped them onto him. The grenades were easily removed, one tug on a string and they would fall right off. Fiyero looked with concern at Teriom, his faithful Crow.

"You have stood by my side through everything, and I am eternally grateful for that," Fiyero said. "You have been one of my best and closest friends."

"It has always been a pleasure to serve you," Teriom said, a slight waiver to his voice. He cast a quick glance down before looking back up at Fiyero. "I pray we can be victorious."

Fiyero nodded solemnly. "We will win. Have faith, my friend."

Teriom nodded, and jumped on Fiyero's shoulder. Fiyero had a few preparations himself to take care of.

Although swords and bullets couldn't physically hurt him, it would be utterly foolish to go out charging into battle with no protection. He would be ripped to pieces in seconds, rendered helpless, and that to him was worse than dying. He had some armor prepared for himself as well.

The armor was waiting for him, perched on a wooden rack in the very back room of the armory. It was armor he designed and made himself; it took him nearly all of the five years he had been underground to make it. It was extremely light, and surprisingly durable, but its major fault was that a close ranged bullet could pierce it like tissue paper. Fortunately, it wasn't something he had to be too worried about.

He first slipped on his chest protector and strapped it tightly, making sure he left as little exposed as possible without greatly reducing his flexibility. He then strapped on his leg guards. And finally, the specially designed gauntlets.

These were no ordinary gloves. Made of numerous steel plates, it protected his whole forearm and elbows. It slipped comfortably over his gloved hand, and instead of straps to secure it, the gauntlets had two bolts that went through his arm to secure it into place and make sure they wouldn't fall off during battle. He slammed the bolts through his arm and tightly screwed them into place, testing his armor by flexing his arm and twisting it. It worked perfectly. As an extra precaution, he retied the rope around his neck to make sure his head was securely fastened to his shoulders. The last thing he needed was to literally loose his head in combat. He shuddered. That was one thing he never really did get used to.

He made sure he had at least three guns inside his straw stuffed torso and plenty of ammunition before he grabbed his long two handed sword. Strapping it around his waist, he walked out of the room, fully armored and ready for battle.

He saw Boq in the main chamber amist all the other soldiers preparing to go out into battle, wearing all of his armor and holding his shield and ax. He was talking to his brother, Lance, who was fully armored and equipped with a gun and sword.

"Please, Lance, be careful," Boq was saying, genuinely concerned. "I won't be able to watch your back out there."

"Hey, don't worry, I'll be alright," Lance said, gripping his gun tightly. Fiyero could see that his knuckles were white and his hands were slightly shaking. Lance was very nervous, no doubt. "You just keep mom safe, got that?"

"I promise," Boq said. "But you keep yourself safe, ok? I don't want to lose you."

"Since when did you get so sentimental?" Lance laughed nervously. They then embraced each other tightly in a sign of deep brotherly affection. They didn't say anything further to each other. With a nod, Lance parted, heading into the midst of the army.

Fiyero placed a hand on Boq's shoulder. Boq looked back at him with sadness.

"Watch out for him, will you, Fiyero?" Boq whispered.

"Of course." He looked around. I was there, standing off to the side, watching everything. I was standing with Elphaba and the Gryphons. Freefall was by my side. She was carrying two large bags filled with grenades over her back. She kept shifting her weight side to side nervously. I was still too numb to feel much of anything. I was practically in a trance.

Lazaris came up to Freefall and draped his enormous black wing over her. She leaned into him, closing her eyes tightly.

"Oh, Laz, I'm so scared," she said.

"Don't worry. I will protect you."

And he meant it.

It was only then that I realized that they were deeply in love with each other. Was it possible that they were mates?

My attention turned back to Fiyero. He was now standing at the front, near the entrance and was giving some final orders. I wasn't truly paying attention, until he called my name.

"Yes?" I said.

"You're up here, with me. You will help me lead us into battle," he said, motioning for me to stand by his side. I was taken aback.

"Why?" I asked, slowly walking up to him.

"I can't lead an entire army by myself. I need someone to help me. You, Ferior, and Osio will help lead the charge," he said with a small smile. Ferior and Osio were already standing up in front with him, and I joined them as well. Osio had on only a few pieces of armor that protected his back and legs, but otherwise, he wore nothing else. Fiyero continued to give his final orders, dividing the army up into several orderly lines. We had a very sizeable army, hopefully formidable against Morrible's own. And now there was no turning back. We were going into war.

To my surprise, Fiyero went off to the side and mounted a black and brown horse, or Horse, I couldn't tell, which was also clad in light armor. I looked up at him. He caught my eye, looked down and smiled.

"Don't worry, it's a horse, not a Horse, if that's what you're wondering," he said.

"How do you know?" I said with slight suspicion.

He shrugged. "You just . . . can. It's hard to explain, but you just know. You can tell if you look it in the eye."

And indeed, I could. I don't know what it was, but when I looked at the horse, I knew it was only an animal. Fiyero jerked the horse's reigns to tun him around and face the army for one last speech.

"A final word for all of you; I greatly appreciate and admire your courage and strength through all this time," Fiyero said. "Your bravery will live on and be remembered. May your strength guide you and empower you to overthrow the corrupt and unjust. Fight strong. Live long. Let's move out!"

We marched down the mountains, down into the foothills, and finally out into the open plains. The journey to the battlefield was long, but to me the trip seemed like nothing at all. Time was of little importance to me. But once we reached the plains, I was startled to see Morrible's army on the distant horizon. They were already waiting for us.

Fiyero halted the army, and we lined up, readying our weapons. I twisted my wrists around and felt the energy for my magic flow through my arms and form at the palms of my hands. I could faintly see each person in Morrible's army and they were close enough to make out each person, but far away enough that I couldn't tell much else. But her army was massive; about twice the size of our own. And yet I couldn't see one tin soldier amongst her ranks. Were we able to declare war before she could finish making them? I seriously doubted it.

She was hiding them somewhere, waiting for the opportune moment to unleash them. Fiyero knew this, as well. What other traps did Morrible have set out for us? I didn't know. But we were going to be in for a big surprise, that much I did know.

* * *

Fiyero stared out into the distant horizon and glared at the opposing forces situated on the other side of the plains. His horse danced back and forth anxiously, and whinnied nervously. Fiyero absentmindedly stroked his neck, trying to calm him, but he knew nothing could cool the nerves of his agitated steed.

Suddenly, he saw Malnor, riding a black steed, step out from his army's lines and wave a crimson flag with a white X on it. Fiyero furrowed his brow.

Dorothy approached him, also staring out at Malnor with hatred burning through her. "What does it mean?" she said quietly.

"That's the flag to signal a negotiation," he answered. "It would seem Malnor wants us to give up without a fight."

"Over my dead body," she hissed. She looked up at him. "It's a trap, you know that, don't you?"

Fiyero nodded. "But let's see what he wants to 'negotiate.'" He kicked his horse, and galloped down to the plains. He slowed his horse to a walk as he got closer to Malnor. They met directly in the middle of their armies.

Malnor smiled cruelly as he lowered his flag. "I thought I killed you. Apparently not." Fiyero remained silent, glaring at him with icy eyes. Malnor laughed, and started to walk his horse around Fiyero. It was then that Fiyero realized Malnor's horse was actually a Horse. Fiyero's rage intensified. He was going to break his neck, just for that.

"You and I both know your pathetic excuse for an army has no chance of overcoming mine!" Malnor continued. "I have you outnumbered by a long shot! Which is why Iam offering you a fair negotiation."

Fiyero remained silent, waiting for what Malnor was about to say.

"If you surrender and agree to swear your loyalty and allegiance to Queen Morrible-" Fiyero snorted upon hearing Morrible being called "queen." Malnor ignored him and went on. "We will show mercy on you and your armies. You will not be sentenced to death, as is custom of traitors. Instead, you'll be able to live freely, under Morrible's watchful eye, of course. And, she has even proposes that you join her and be Lieutenant Captain of the Guards! The highest ranking, besides Captain, of course. You need only answer to me. And we'll let all your friends live. Maybe Morrible will be merciful enough to resurrect Hunk again, this time under his own complete control."

Fiyero kept a calm and focused poise, but inside, he was livid with anger, and his fury only grew the longer Malnor talked.

"That sounds like a very . . . honorable proposition." Fiyero said with a hint of sarcasm. "And what if I were to refuse?"

"Then we would have no choice but to kill you and your entire army," Malnor replied calmly. He extended his hand. "Do we have a proposition?"

Fiyero stared at his hand, then laughed cruelly. "You are a fool! I will never submit to dogs like you! I'd rather rot in hell than be under your rule! And so would the rest of my army! My soldiers have been cast out, rejected, beaten, tortured, and ridiculed by your mindless pawns for what they are! We have nothing left to loose! We will not surrender. We will fight you until the last breath, and we will show no mercy towards your army!!" He grabbed Malnor's collar and yanked him close. "And you can tell your precious queen that I will personally make sure her head will be severed from her body by the time I'm through with her!"

"And this is coming from a man who needs to hide behind a mask to scare his armies into obeying his command," Malnor hissed.

Fiyero's expression remained angry, but Malnor's comment confused him for a moment. Then he realized something.

_He doesn't know I'm actually a scarecrow! He thinks it's just a disguise!_ Fiyero thought. He smiled inwardly. Malnor was going to have the shock of his life.

"Who says I'm hiding?" Fiyero whispered.

Malnor narrowed his eyes. "Fine. If you won't surrender, then I'll annihilate you and your army!"

"You couldn't kill me, even when I was helplessly tied to a pole!" Fiyero jeered. "What makes you think you can kill me now?"

Malnor whipped out his sword and pointed it at Fiyero's throat. The tip of the blade was only centimeters away from piercing his burlap skin. But Fiyero didn't even flinch. Malnor couldn't hurt him.

"Don't tempt me, Fiyero!" he growled.

Faster than the eye could register, Fiyero grabbed the blade of the sword with his armor-clad hand and bent the blade with as much effort as swatting a fly. Malnor's eyes went wide, and he pulled his sword away to see that the blade was crushed and bent at a ninety degree angle at the top.

"I suggest you get a better sword," Fiyero said.

Malnor stared back and forth between his bent sword and Fiyero, then his expression changed to anger, with still a small hint of shock. His Horse pranced around nervously before Malnor threw the sword on the ground.

"You have sentenced your entire army to death!" Malnor yelled, kicking his Horse and bolting back to his army.

"Run all you want, you coward! You can't escape me!! I will find you and kill you!!" Fiyero roared maliciously. He turned around his horse and galloped back to his own army.

He faced all of them, looking at the set and determined gleam in their eyes. They wer ready to fight. And he knew that just behind his army, Elphaba and the other Birds and Gryphons were waiting for him to give the signal. He was going to wait until he saw the tin army before he set the signal. He unsheathed his sword and pointed it high into the air. His army followed his gesture; all of the men took out their swords and waved them in the air, yelling fiercely at the enemy. The Animas roared with all their might, brandishing their claws, horns, talons, fangs, and whatever else they had to offer. Malnor's army responded, his own troops pulling out their weapons and calling back with just as much intensity.

_This is it, here we go, ready or not. We're going to run straight into the Gates of Hell!_ Fiyero reared his horse, and with a final battle cry, he pointed his sword forward, and his army burst into action, charging straight at Malnor's. They did the same; it was going to be a head on collision of two enormous forces.

But Fiyero hada few tricks of his own up his sleeve. Instead of charging, the men stayed behind and fired at Malnor's army with guns. Already, dozens were falling to the ground, dropping like flies. Fiyero pulled out his handgun and fired as well as he charged into battle. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Four shots with inhuman accuracy fired one right after the other. Four men charging right at him dropped to the ground, dead.

Closer and closer, the armies charged, then finally, they met. Fiyero plunged straight into the heart of the army, madly swingng his sword around him and firing at anyone he could get a clear shot at. Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw Animals leap into action, clawing down their enemies and snapping their powerful jaws over their throats. He could just faintly see Osio rip a man apart with his sharp claws and snap another's neck in one swift chomp.

His horse stumbled, and rolled on the gound. Fiyero instantly jumped off and rolled away as well. He leapt to his feet and swung his sword at a man on his right, cutting his throat wide open. He fell to the ground, choking in his own blood. Trying to fight off two charging men at once, he saw Dorothy behind him. She fired a powerful spell at one of them, killing him instantly, and Fiyero was able to cut down the other. Dorothy already had a few scratches, but she looked on with determination and a fiery wrath. She looked at Fiyero and gave him a small smle.

"BEHIND YOU!" he shouted. He shoved her aside just as a man was about to stab her. The man ended up stabbing Fiyero instead, piercing his sword clean through Fiyero's stomach. The man gaped at Fiyero, staring in total shock and wonder how he stabbed Fiyero, yet he wasn't dead. Fiyero could only smile cruelly as he stabbed the man through the heart. He fell to the ground, clutching his chest.

Fiyero pulled out the sword and gave Dorothy a small nod before he continued to fight his way through the crowd. He was on a mission. He needed to find Malnor. And kill him.

* * *

Veirti quetly climbed up the muntain face, checking his coordinates repeatedly to make sure his information was right. His small group of about two dozen soldiers followed closely behind him, keeping as quiet as possible.

"Man, this aint right. This aint right at all," a man said worriedly.

Veirti rolled his eyes annoyingly and turned around. "Goddamn it, Groav, shut it, will you?!"

He lowered his head, his gun shaking in his massive hands. "I'm just sayin' it aint right! It's wrong to be killin' the woman and children!"

"For a big man, you're a fucking bloody coward!" Veirti snarled. "You will do as you're ordered, or we'll torture you like that escaped prisoner for betrayal!"

Groav shuddered, his eyes growing wide with fear. But fortunately, it shut him up.

And there it was; the barracks, exactly where Morrible said it would be. He quietly approached the nearly hidden entrance, looked around, and motioned his troops inside.

The caverns were massive. Veirti had never seen anything like it before. How did a bunch of stupid Animals manage to build somethng so incredible?

He refocused himself, and started to scour out the massive entrance hall they were in. There was only one tunnel that leadd straight ahead. He marched forward without a second thought.

"It's a trap!" Groav whispered hoarsely as he followed Veirti. "I just know it!"

"Shut the hell up, Groav!" Veirti hissed. "We're going to be fighting a bunch of helpless old maids! It'll be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel!"

They entered the second chamber, which was lined with numerous doors. Suddenly, there was a loud snap, and a boulder from the ceiling fell down to the ground, blocking their escape and trapping them inside.

"Waht did I tell ya?! What did I tell ya?!" Groav screamed.

"Shut the fuck up!"

The sound of dozens of snapping guns caught their attention, and everyone freezed. There was dead silence. Suddenly, the door to the group's left burst open, and out charged a monstrous man completely made of metal.

He stood to full height, a good six feet tall, holding his enormous ax menacingly high in the air. His left arm bore a large kite shield which he held out in front of him. His shoulders, elbows and knees were covered in spiky plates, giving him a ferocious appearance.

Groav instantly recognized him. It was the robot Ferior ordered to fix for him!!

All the other doors flew open, and the women came pouring out, each armed with guns.

"Helpless old maids my ass!" Groav cried.

They fired, just as the metal man brought his ax crashing down onto Veirti.

Groav retreated back into an empty room, out of the shooting melee. There were very few shots fired from his own allies. The women and the metal man made quick work of the squadron that came to kill them.

He tried to load his guns, but his hands were shaking so violently he couldn't load a bullet into the chamber. Then, to his horror, the robot came into the room he was hiding. His eyes widened ever so slightly with recognition, but that didn't stop him from approaching him menacingly, ax raised high, coated with fresh blood.

"WAIT!" Groav cried, dropping his gun and raising his hands in a sign of surrender. The robot paused. "I surrender!"

The robot narrowed his eyes. "I have no mercy towards the likes of you! Why should I spare your life?!"

"Because I can help you!"

"COWARD!" the robot spat. "You look death in the eye and change alliances to save your own hide!" He raised the bloody ax higher.

"No, please, stop, I swear to you! I never wanted to be on Morrible's side! I was forced to join her!" Groav begged.

"Wait," an older woman said, coming up to the robot and placing a gentle hand on his arm. The robot looked down at her with compassion and his eyes softened. "Let's hear what he has to say."

The robot nodded, lowered his ax, and glared at Groav. "So be it. You have a minute to convince me not to end your pititful life."

Groav smiled with relief. "Oh, thank you! Thank you-"

"I'm waiting," he said impatiently.

Groav stared at him with wide eyes. "Morrible's planning something terrible! She has a plan to wipe out your army!"

"Yes, we know about the tin soldiers," the robot growled.

"No! It's even worse than that!" Groav said.

The robot glared at him suspiciously. "What could possibly be worse than that?"

Groav told them everything, not leaving out a single detail. As he told them, the robot's eyes widened with horror, and he nearly dropped his ax.

"Oh, good God," he breathed. He then turned angry, and stomped up to Groav and seized him by the throat. He pulled him up to his feet. "If you're even thinking about playing games, I swear! I will kill you!"

Groav looked at the robot straight in the eye and could see his anger and rage. But he also saw worry and fear. Groav was caught off guard. It was almost like he was human . . .

"I swear, I'm telling the truth!" he pleaded. "I want you to win! I want her dead and gone just as much as you do."

The robot and the older woman exchanged worried glances, then the robot let him go. Groav coughed and rubbed his throat.

"Lance is out there! I have to go! I need to help them!" the robot said worriedly.

The woman hugged him. "Please be careful, Boq!" she pleaded.

"I'm not the one you need to be worried about," he said, picking up his ax and running as fast as he could to the battlefield.

Several other women came in to comfort her, and a few kept their guns trained on Groav. The woman collapsed into another's arms, and she started to cry.

"Oh, please, God, keep my sons safe!" she prayed.

Outside, Boq was running as fast as he could down the mountains and to the battlefield. If what Groav told him was true, they were in very, very big trouble.


	22. Insanity

**Sorry for the long update! I've had some serious writer's block. I can't write battle scenes for crap, and I apologize.**

* * *

Elphaba kept low to the ground, peeking over the top of the hill she was hiding behind to see the battle below. She couldn't tell much, but she did know that they needed their help down there. And she was stuck up here, utterly useless with the Birds and Gryphons. She groaned loudly.

"Dammit! I hate sitting up here, completely useless, while everyone is out there fighting!" she muttered.

Teriom and Freefall were crouched down next to her. "Patience, Elphaba. When the time is right, we will fight," Teriom said cooly.

"I know, I just want to be down _there_."

"You mean fighting down there with him?" Teriom chirped coyly.

Elphaba shot him an annoyed look. "And what if I do?" Teriom shrugged.

Just then, she heard loud footsteps coming behind her. She turned around and saw Boq sprinting right at her, terrified. She instantly leapt to her feet. In her mind a thousand terrible scenarios played out before her and she began to fear the worse.

"Boq! What are you doing? What happened? Are the women and children alright?" Elphaba said hurriedly.

Boq nodded. "Yes, yes, they're fine, everyone's ok. We were able to wipe out all the men who were trying to ambush us."

Elphaba nodded, noting the already dried blood on his ax. "Then what's wrong?"

"We have a big problem." He told them everything that Groav told him, and Elphaba's eyes went wide with fear, hardly believing what he was telling her.

"But . . . that's impossible! Are you sure?"

"I have no reason to believe otherwise," Boq said worriedly.

"Look!" Freefall cried.

Elphaba turned around. Just beyond the horizon, a silvery glint lined the very edge of the plains. Elphaba narrowed her eyes, trying to determine what it was. She pulled out a telescope and looked through the eyepiece.

She almost dropped her telescope when she saw what it was.

It was the tin soldier army. Thousands of them. They covered the entire horizon, and were quickly approaching the battlefields. She lowered her hands, which were shaking in fear.

There was no way they could win against a force that massive.

But they had to try.

"Everyone, take to the air!!" Elphaba screamed. "Wipe them out!! We can't let them make it to the battlefield!"

The Birds did not need to be told twice. Hundreds upon hundreds of Birds and Gryphons shot off onto the sky, ready to unleash the grenades on the tin soldiers. Elphaba grabbed her broom and mounted it, and was about to take off when she felt Boq grip her arm. She turned around, and saw him looking at her with deep concern and worry.

"Please be careful," he said.

She nodded. "I promise." She kicked off the ground anad flew off into the sky with the rest of the Birds, she herself carrying a large bag filled with the powerful grenades. She hoped it would be enough.

Looking down, she saw Boq sprinting off towards the battlefield and charge straight into the masses, shield raised and ax swiping at anyone unfortunate enough to be in his way.

* * *

Damn it all!

I blasted my way through the battlefield, cutting down anyone in my way, but it only seemed that every man I killed, two more replaced him. I was completely surrounded, fighting like a madman and summoning all my energy to deliver fatal blows to anyone who came within range.

But it wasn't enough. Nothing I was doing seemed to help. All around me, I could see Animals being cut down and horribly killed as they laid injured on the ground. The soil was thick and red with blood.

We were quickly losing our ranks. Up ahead, I saw a Tiger surrounded by five men. The Tiger was attacking one and managed to snap his neck, but the other four mercilessly atacked him, plunging their spears and swords into his back. Enraged, I used my magic to knock the men off the Tiger, killing them, but it was already too late. The Tiger was dead.

My rage only intensified, and I turned around and whipping out a short sword, I stabbed a soldier in the heart. Just behind me, I heard the horrid screeching of a dying Animal. I turned around and saw three men stabbing a Mountain Lion. I ran up to them and cut them down, but one of the men swung his sword wildly at me and managed to slice my abdomen. I clutched my side, and fell to the ground. I could feel my blood running out from the deep gash, and quickly recited a healing spell. The wound healed instantly, but my hand was covered with my own blood. I looked up and saw the Mountain Lion I was trying to save was also dead.

I could feel tears running down my face.

We couldn't win this battle.

* * *

Lance fired his gun at the advancing army, and he managed to hit most of the men he was aiming at, but he was quickly outnumbered and overpowered. The men attacked him with their swords, and Lance tried to fight them off, but there were too many of them. One of their swords nicked him in the arm, and his sword slipped out of his hands and he tumbled to the ground. They advanced on him, evil grins across their hated faces, relishing the thought of slowly killing him. And Lance could do nothing to stop them.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM, YOU BASTARDS!!"

Lance turned around. Behind him, charging at full speed was his brother, Boq! Furious, Boq raised his ax high and with one powerful swing, he cut down to of the men. Using the curved blade on his right arm, he slashed at the remaining men, killing them. Once they were all dead, Boq turned around to face Lance.

"Dammit, I told you to be careful," he said with a slight smile. He pulled Lance to his feet, and he could only look at him with awe.

"Boq . . . that was amazing! You just killed all those men!" Lance said. Boq didn't look the least bit comforted by his remark.

"Wait- what about mom? Is she ok?" Lance said hurriedly.

"She's fine, they're all ok. But where's Fiyero? I have to tell him something!"

Lance shook his head. "I don't know. But what do you need to tell him?"

"I don't have time to explain!" Boq yelled impatiently. He looked around, but admist all of the chaos and confusion, it was impossible to see anyone. He motioned to Lance. "Stay with me!" he said.

Lance all too willingly obliged, and they both dove back into the battlefield. Lance picked up his sword and attacked the nearest man. They engaged in an epic sword fight before the man lost his balance, and Lance was able to deliver a fatal blow. He turned around, and saw that Boq was hacking through the frenzy like crazy, leaving a wake of bodies. Lance was immensely impressed.

"Boq, you're a killing machine!" he cried.

Boq shot him an angry look.

"Uh, sorry," he said weakly. "But in all seriousness, it's kinda sad that I need to depend on my baby brother to watch my back!"

Boq only shook his head and rolled his eyes as he continued to fight through Morrible's army. They continued to battle tirelessly through the army, adrenaline constantly fueling Lance and pushing him onward to keep fighting. Bullets grazed his armor, and several times Boq jumped out of nowhere to hack down an enemy about to stab Lance. The battle was absolutely brutal; hundreds dying, bodies dropping to the ground like flies. It was the worst carnage Lance had ever witnessed. He had never even heard of something so devastating in all the history of Oz.

They had to end this war, and quickly, or else thousands, hell maybe millions, of lives would be lost.

* * *

Elphaba overlooked the massive tin army, hundreds of feet below her. She was now almost on top of them, keeping hidden in the cloud cover which Glinda herself had provided for. A little bit further, and then they will start their attack. She looked around her and made sure everyone was evenly spaced to provide the most affective attack. Everyone looked ready.

"DIVE!" she screamed. She tilted her broom towards the ground, and like a rocket, she blasted towards the ground, gripping the broom tightly with one hand and a grenade in the other. About fifty feet above the ground, she threw it, and pulled back up, along with hundreds of other Birds. She looked over her shoulder just as hundreds of grenades went off, and the ground exploded in fireworks. Thunderous booms sent powerful shockwaves through the air, almost knocking Elphaba off her broom. But the effects were imporessive; when the smoke cleared, large black craters scarred the earth, and a good portion of the tin aoldiers had been rendered useless. Elphaba began to feel a spark of hope grow inside of her.

They turned ack around for another assault, but the army had been alerted and were now ready for them. The tin soldiers, all at once, stopped dead in their tracks and raised their guns at them. It was then that Elphaba had a good look at them. Their design was simple and cylindrical, not at all like Boq's complex design. Their movements were also jerky and slow. But they were still going to be a formidable enemy.

Elphaba took out two of the grenades, holding one in each hand. She threw them into the center of the forces, and a fireball erupted, blasting the nearby robots to pieces. The whistling of bullets in her ears were deafening, and she continued to steer her broom carefully through the air, snaking through the sky like a serpent. Bullets grazed her skin, and she was lucky they only nicked her. As she pulled off to climb higher into the sky, she saw several Birds fall to the earth. Freefall flew up beside her, her front paw holding her right shoulder. Blood leaked between her fingers.

"Freefall, you're hurt!" Elphaba cried.

She shook her head. "It's not a serious wound. I'm fine!" She dove back down again, and swooped low over the fields. Fireballs exploded behind her as she dropped the grenades over the army, but she was too close.

"Freefall, get higher!!" Elphaba screamed. "You're too close! You'll-"

Freefall was suddenly hit. She went down hard, and crashed to the ground below. She had been shot in the wing. She limped to her feet, but now, she was in the middle of the tin soldier army. She was completely surrounded. And they lifted their bayonettes and began to charge straight at her.

"NO!!"

Lazaris suddenly swooped down next to her and with his vicious talons, began to slash at the oncoming robots. His sharp talons cut the metal like butter, and he fought like mad, ferociously protecting Freefall. She too started to fight off the robots, but with an injured arm and a broken wing, the pain was excruciating, and she could hardly fight.

One of the robots hit her with the butt of its gun, and she fell to the ground. She could hardly stand she was in so much pain. Everything hurt. She was loosing a lot of blood. Was this how she was going to die?

A robot stood before her and pointed its gun at her. She tried to move, tried to run, but her limps would not obey her. She shut her eyes as she waited for the fatal blow.

Lazaris ran up to her, and with one swipe of his talons, he ripped the robot to pieces. He looked over at her and gave a smile.

"Are you ok?" he said.

She shook her head. "No. I'm hurt. Wing shot."

"Then we have to get you out of here." Leaning over, he draped her over his back, and took off into the sky. He was flying as fast as he could, but with all that extra weight, he was slow and an easy target. He flew as hard ana as fast as he could, his powerful wings beating rigorously. Elphaba flew up to their side.

"Here! I can heal her!" she said. She flewe closer, and placed her hand on Freefall's injured wing as they flew. She muttered a short spell, and her wing was instantly healed.

Freefall nodded and smiled. "Thank you."

Lazaris suddenly shrieked in agony, and he began to fall. Freefall grabbed him and tried to stabilize him, but he was too heavy. Her grip slipped and Lazaris crashed to the ground.

"LAZARIS!" she cried. She flew down next to him and saw a large bloody bullet hole in the middle of his chest. He gasped and wheezed painfully.

"Free . . ." he whispererd. "I'm sorry."

His eyes slowly shut as he gave a long painful sigh, and was dead.

* * *

He was in the center of an absolute frenzy. Blood everywhere. Confusion, chaos, disorder. Absolute panic. Unbelievable carnage. Bodies flying, falling, dying. He was fighting with all his might, handling the sword skillfully in his hands as he twisted and flipped it through the air, penetrating his enemies with deadly blows. He himself was almost losing himself in the total madness of battle. The chaos and insanity in the choking air was infectious, and as he yelled bravely as he dove into battle, he could literally feel himself falling apart, the madness of the horrendous bloodshed slowly stealing his sanity. Or whatever was left of it.

But through the crowds, through the stifling bloodied air, he saw him. _The _enemy. _His_ enemy.

"MALNOR!"

Malnor heard him yell his name, and turned around. Their eyes locked, hatred burning through their very souls, and without a second's hesitation, they charged straight at each other. Fiyero raised his sword high into the air, and Malnor did the same with his. Their blades fell down upon each other and connected with a flurry of angry sparks. Fiyero pushed against Malnor's blade with all his might, and the two were locked in a battle of strength, shoving against each other, seeing who could endure the longest. This was unfortunately one of Fiyero's weaknesses; once he reached his maximum strength, he could not exceed it, unlike a normal human, who could call upon a spurt of adrenaline when needed. So Fiyero needed to fight using only a fraction of his total strength to reserve himself for when he truly needed his full strength. Unfortunately, he wasn't as strong as he used to be. He was at a major disadvantage having less strength than Malnor, but he had one thing Malnor didn't: virtual immortality.

The swords slipped, and they both jumped back from each other, still keeping their gazes locked. Fiyero held hs sword steadily in front of him as he stared down Malnor. But he was also studying him very carefully. Malnor's hands were shaking, not by much, but still. He was dripping in sweat, and Fiyero could easily see that he was out of breath. Fiyero smiled.

He felt a deep cruel laugh resonate within him, and he laughed quietly, savoring the pain he could unleash on him. Slow, brutal pain. The same pain he had endured. The same torture Malnor forced Hunk to withstand. Now, he was going to do the same to Malnor.

They charged once again, swords clashing violently, sparks flying, entering a deadly dance of blades. Fiyero swung his sword high, and Malnor ducked, avoiding the strike, and brought his sword upwards. Fiyero jumped backwards just out of the way, and again, and again they charged at each other with their blades slicing the air.

"I have to admit, you have improved," Fiyero laughed coldly. "I haven't managed to kill you yet!"

Malnor narrowed his eyes angrily before he too laughed. "And you aren't as bad as I thought you would be living with hoards of filthy animals!"

"Oh, wow, you've also managed to improve your sarcasm!" Fiyero said, then twisted his sword to the right. Malnor was knocked off balance for only a fraction of a second, but it gave Fiyero enough time to nick Malnor's side. Malnor backed a few steps away, clutching the cut, and was staring at Fiyero with a small look of shock and frustration. Fiyero looked down at himself, and saw that Malnor had managed to stab him in the side with a tiny blade. He laughed.

"Sneaky little bastard, I'll give you that much," he said, ripping out the blade. Malnor's eyes widened for a second, then he gripped the sword with both of his hands and charged at Fiyero once more. Fiyero blocked it, and their blades pushed agaist each other.

"You have no hopes for winning, Fiyero!" Malnor yelled. "You are by far outnumbered! How do you plan to defeat my massive army with your pathetic animals?!"

"We may be outnumbered, but you are by far outmatched!!"

Malnor laughed cruelly. "Outmatched?! You think you outmatch us?! Just because you're leading this army does not mean that your skill alone can hope to defeat us all!"

"You have no idea!" Fiyero whispered quietly.

They continued to fight, dancing and stepping carefully around each other, blocking, dodging, slicing, the steel blades singing through the air. Fiyero carefully monitored Malnor and the battle around him. Amazingly, no one else attempted to interfere or fight with either him or Malnor. It was as if they knew this was meant as a battle between them, and only them. A battle between the generals. A battle of skill, strength, and drive.

Fiyero brought his sword down hard, and Malnor blocked it, and with a loud yell, he pushed back against Fiyero with all his might. Fiyero tumbled backwards, but he bent his body backwards and did a backwards flip. He kicked his legs upwards, and hit Malnor squarely in the jaw with his heavy boots. Fiyero landed back on his feet, crouched low, and his gaze locked once more with Malnor. Malnor had been hit hard; blood was streaming from his mouth, and a large gash lined his chin. He stared at him in shock and anger as he wiped away his blood with the sleeve of his shirt.

"How the fuck did you do that?!" he said hoarsely, more to himself than to Fiyero.

Fiyero felt himself laughing once more. Malnor's shock turned to terror, and Fiyero only laughed harder.

"SHUT UP!!"

Malnor charged at him, swinging his sword wildly. Fiyero blocked it easily, holding his sword with only one of his armored hands.

"You're growing tired, Malnor! You can't hope to defeat me! I will kill you!" Fiyero said. "And I will have my revenge for what you have done!!"

"I sid SHUT UP!!" Malnor shoved once more against Fiyero's sword, and Fiyero tripped backwards. He fell to the ground, and faster than he could recover, Malnor dove on top of him and pierced his sword clear through Fiyero's chest, right over his heart, until only the hilt protruded from Fiyero's chest.

"Now you will die, you crazy son of a bitch!" Malnor said.

Fiyero stared down at the sword hilt sticking out of his chest. He was silent for a minute, then he broke out into laughter. An insane, blood curdling laughter that came from deep within him, a maniach-like laugh, the laugh of the insane. Fiyero lost all control of himself, and let the madness overtake him. All the supressed emotion, rages, frustrations of the past few years suddenly burst, and he continued to laugh insanely. Malnor stared down at him in absolute horror.

"I cannot die!" Fiyero said maniachally. "You thought I was only wearing a mask! THINK AGAIN!" He shoved Malnor off of him and rose to his feet. Malnor fell to the ground and backed away from him, holding his arm in front of him, trying to shield himself from Fiyero.

"No! It's impossible! It can't be! No! NO!" Malnor screamed, his face covered in terror. Fiyero slowly pulled the sword out of his chest, deliberately, walking towards Malnor very slowly, relishing the terror he had envoked in Malnor. He continued to laugh, hauntingly, coldly. He found pleasure in terrorizing Malnor, after everything he had done, it was sheer joy to torture him. He laughed harder.

"You think I am a coward enough to hide behind a mask?! You're a bigger fool than I first took you as! This is me! This is who I am! I _am_ a scarecrow!!" He grabbed Manor's collar and pulled him to his feet and stared straight into his eye, still laughing the same cold, haunting insane laugh. "I AM A SCARECROW!!"

Fiyero lifted the sword he held high in the air and plunged it into Malnor's heart. He screamed in brutal agony. Fiyero pushed the sword deeper, deeper, until the hilt prevented him from driving the sword any further. Malnor gasped and wheezed, twitching violently, until his eyes rolled to the back of his head. His mouth sagged open and blood continued to drip from his mouth. He went limp, and Fiyero let go of the sword and watched Malnor crash to the ground.

Malnor was dead. Finally, Fiyero had his revenge. Everything he had done had been undone to him. He deserved every minute of pain.

But Fiyero felt empty, void of all emotions. As he stared down at Malnor's body, he felt no relief, no joy, no anger or satisfaction. Jut an emptyness so complete, so chilling and . . . dead.

Fiyero's madness faded, and he crashed to his knees, staring down at his armored hands covered in blood. He was losing himself in the madness. He was losing every shred of his humanity in this godforsaken battle. He didn't even know himself anymore.

_I am a scarecrow. I am a scarecrow. I am a scarecrow._

Those three words echoed in his head. Accusing. Insulting. Laughing.

What if he was truly losing himself? What if he came out of this war with nothing left except the madness that was the scarecrow?

Was he really hiding behind a mask?! Was Fiyero only his outward facade, and his true self was the scarecrow?

Oh, god, what was happening to him?!

The rage, frustration, anger came back relentlessly, and clutching his sword tightly, he leapt back into action, hacking at anything in his range. He saw the enemy blades pierce and cut him, but goddamn it, he couldn't feel it! Damn him and this damned body!! This isn't him! He couldn't take it anymore! He wanted to feel the pain, god damn it! He wanted to be human again! He couldn't stand being this _thing_ any longer!!

He lashed out violently to anyone nearby, venting his anger, once again letting his rage control and consume him.

From deep within him, he began to laugh the same haunting, maniachal laughter once more.

* * *

"There he is!"

Boq turned around. And there he was. Fiyero was furiously swinging his sword all around him, cutting down anyone that came too close. His battle cries could be clearly heard over the chaotic din of the war. Fiyero's face was covered in rage and a madness Boq had never seen before. And to his horror, he could clearly hear Fiyero laughing insanely.

What the hell was he doing?!

Boq ran up to him from behind, and when he was only a few feet away from him, Fiyero turned around and brought his sword down upon Boq. Instinctively, Boq raised his shield to block it. But Boq stared at Fiyero when he saw that his eyes shone with madness and rage. Fiyero stared back at him, angry.

"What the hell are you doing?!" he screamed. "I told you to stay with the women and children, you stupid bastard!!" His fist then flew straight at Boq's face, and Boq grabbed his wrist.

"Fiyero, what the hell is wrong with you?! Have you completely lost your mind?!" Boq yelled.

Fiyero only continued to look at him with intense hatred. "And what if I had?! Everything I'd been through would be enough to drive anyone insane! God damn it Boq! I can't feel ANYTHING! I killed Malnor and I felt nothing!! I'm not human anymore!"

"Fiyero! Shut up and listen to yourself! I know it's hard, but by god, keep your head on! We need you! I need you, Dorothy needs you, Elphaba needs you! Fiyero, don't you think I feel the same way? I hate it and I can't stand it either, but now is definately not the time!! Get a grip!"

Fiyero's anger seemed to lessen, and Boq let go of his wrist. Fiyero's hand shook sligtly, still clutching the sword tightly, and he drew a long breath.

"I'm sorry," he said hardly louder than a whisper.

"Like I said; now's not the time."

Fiyero nodded. "Alright, let's go!"

"No! Fiyero, you're in great danger! You have to get out of here! Now!"

Fiyero glared at Boq. "Why?! Boq, I can't be killed!"

"Yes you can! Fire will destroy you in an instant, which is why you have to get out of here immediately!!"

"But why?!"

THere was suddenly a loud, blood curdling roar that echoed throughout the very land, vibrating the earth below them. Everything stopped; no one moved, no one breathed, frozen in fear and terror as the bellow ripped through the land. The roar was like a gutteral screeching wail that sent chills down Boq's spine. The roar came again, louder, accompanied with the loud whooshing thump of massive wings.

A dark figure appeared over the horizon, quickly flying towards them, and the roar came once more. Fiyero went rigid with terror. He couldn't believe what it was.

"DRAGON!!"


	23. A Terrible Price

"Dragon!" Fiyero yelled again. How was that possible!? Dragons died off hundreds of years ago! It was impossible!

But there it was, a monstrous black dragon, angrily spurting flames from its massive jaws, its red eyes glowing furiously. It was at least two hundred feet long from head to tail tip, and its enormous leathery wings stretched across the sky. The dragon roared again, and reared its massive head and blew a jet of red fire to the ground, instantly scorching the earth and sending the battlefield up into a fiery blaze.

Boq grabbed Fiyero's shoulder and turned him around to face him. "You have to get out of here! That thing will set you on fire in an instant! Go!"

Boq was right, and Fiyero knew it, but he couldn't leave them. They needed him! He had to stay and fight.

"Fiyero! Go now, or you'll die!!" Boq yelled.

"Then let me die!!" Fiyero said, charging off back into battle.

"FIYERO!! STOP, YOU MORON!!" Boq yelled again, chasing off after him.

Fiyero paid no attention to him. He didn't care anymore if he lived or died. In fact, he figured he would rather be dead and die a honorable death rather than living this cursed half-existence.

Suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks. He wanted to move onward, but something inside of him was stopping him.

_Fiyero, what the hell do you think you are doing?!_ a voice said angrily. _Stop being reckless! Don't go and kill yourself, idiot!_

"And why not?" Fiyero muttered to himself angrily. "I can't stand this anymore! I'd rather be dead!"

_What about Elphaba?! You've seen how upset she was when she thought you died the first time! Do you want that for her again?! And what about your promise to Hunk?!_

He felt as if someone had stabbed him and his chest clenched painfully. As much as he hated it, his conscience was right. With as much effort as Fiyero could summon, he turned his back on the battle and went to seek shelter from the dragon's fire. He stopped in front of Boq before he did so.

"Kill the bastard," he said to Boq. Boq gave a small nod, then charged onwards with his ax and shield raised. Then, without a second's hesitation, Fiyero sprinted off the battlefield, searching for a place to hide until the dragon was destroyed.

He hoped that Boq was up to the task.

* * *

Elphaba stared in horror at the massive dragon flying straight towards her. She had read about them while at school, but she would have never dreamed about seeing one in real life. They were supposed to be extinct!

And if what she read about them was correct, they were all but impossible to kill. Only one person in history was able to successfully kill them, and he did so by stabbing them in the eye with a long spear. The slayer was then promptly killed when the dragon lashed out in agony.

The dragon's red eye fell upon Elphaba, and it immediately flew towards her, roaring loudly, flames spewing from its mouth like a volcano. Elphaba turned her broom around and flew away from the impending dragon as fast as her broom could carry her.

The wind was deafening in her ears, but she could still hear the dragon screeching and roaring behind her. And it was getting closer. She urged the broom onwards. Elphaba dared to cast a quick glance over her shoulder, and saw that the dragon had spotted someone more vulnerable on the ground, and dove after its new target. Elphaba looked down to see who the dragon had spotted.

It was Dorothy!!!

She stood facing the dragon, and was about to cast a very powerful spell at the dragon. Elphaba dove down towards her.

"DOROTHY, NO!" she screamed. "DRAGONS ARE IMPERVIOUS TO MAGIC!!"

She didn't hear her in time. Dorothy cast the spell on the dragon, and it bounced harmlessly off its black scaly hide. Dorothy froze in terror, and the dragon loomed closer and closer. She broke off into a run, but there was no way she could outrun the dragon. Elphaba urged her broom to go faster. She had to beat the dragon to her!

But it was a losing battle. The dragon was much faster, with its powerful leathery wings beating furiously through the air.

The dragon was right on top of her, and it opened its massive jaws, jaws lined with long deadly razor sharp teeth that could swallow her whole in one bite. Closer and closer it leered, then suddenly, Freefall swooped in from the side and grabbed Dorothy out of the way. The dragon's jaws snapped on thin air, and turned to face the gryphon quickly flying away with Dorothy tightly clutched between her claws. Dorothy clambered on her back, and they shot off into the sky, the dragon hot on their heels. Elphaba was about to follow it when she heard a voice calling her below. She looked down and saw Boq crazily waving his arms, trying to grab her attention. She swooped down besides him, still hovering in the air.

Without wasting a second, Boq jumped on the broom behind her.

"Boq, what the hell-"

"Just go!! Fly after that scaly bastard!! I'm the only one who stands a chance against that thing!" Boq yelled, pointing his ax at the dragon. "Go!"

Elphaba did so, but Boq's additional weight significantly slowed her down, and she could feel Boq's tension rising. The dragon was still chasing after Freefall and Dorothy, and Elphaba was slowly gaining on them. She hoped she could get Boq to the dragon before the dragon got to Freefall.

Dorothy spotted Elphaba and Boq, and motioned for Freefall to fly in their direction. "Fly towards them!" Dorothy said over the howl of wind.

Freefall did so, and the dragon followed them, bringing it closer to Boq. Elphaba rose into the air a little further, and just as the dragon passed beneath them, Boq jumped off the broom and onto the dragon's back. He hit it hard, and the dragon jerked at the sudden impact. Boq started to roll off his back, and in a desperate attempt to keep himself on, he stabbed the curved blade fused to his arm deep into the dragon's back, keeping him on. The dragon roared a loud, pained bellow, and twisted its neck around and glared at Boq angrily with a glowing red eye. Malice gleamed in its haunting crimson orb.

"Oh shit . . ." Boq muttered.

The dragon suddenly dove down to earth, folding its wings close to its body and spinning like a top, trying to dislodge Boq. Boq kept the blade imbedded tight into the dragon's tough hide, and tried to grab onto something, anything. Finally, he used his ax as another handhold and sliced it into the dragon's back and held on with all his might. The wind was about to blow him right off and he felt as if his arms were going to snap right out of his sockets. It was a wonder how they didn't.

The dragon pulled up out of its dive after just barely skimming over the ground, mere feet from the rocky earth below. The dragon was clearly dizzy; it had trouble flying straight. Boq took this chance and pulled his arm and his ax out of the dragon's back and started to climb towards its head. The dragon's head craned around once more and began snapping at him. Its jaws came too close for comfort, and Boq jumped backwars, and started to slip. Once again, he lashed out with his arm and caught himself with the arm blade, saving him from a hundred foot fall to earth.

_Thank you, Hunk, _Boq sighed, but he was far from safe. The dragon's massive jaws caught his leg and ripped him out, and dove to the ground with Boq clenched tightly between its teeth. The dragon dropped Boq just a few feet above ground, and its massive scaly taloned paw pinned Boq to the ground. Boq stared up at the dragon, unable to move, and the dragon reared its head back, and its jaws opened widely, and he could see a small ball of fire begin to grow in its mouth.

"Oh, _crap_!"

The dragon unleashed its fire, and Boq was completely engulfed in flames. Boq shut his eyes tightly against the fire, but he couldn't even feel it. He dared to open one eye. Everything around him was a flood of fire; nothing could be seen except the intense red and orange of the dragon's fire. Boq felt a small spark of pride within him.

_Metal man: 1. Dragon: 0. _Boq thought with a laugh.

The fire ceased, and the dragon stared down at him, obviously confused. Boq saw that his metal skin was no longer silvery, but glowing red hot. The ground around him was scorching and smoking, but he was completely unharmed. The dragon lifted its paw and picked Boq up in its jaws and tried to _eat _him. Its jaws chomped down, and Boq pushed against the snapping jaws with all his strength.

"I'm not your damned dinner!!" Boq yelled, pushing up against the roof of the dragon's mouth. The dragon's tongue snaked around him, and tried to pull him down into its throat.

"Oh, hell no, bitch!" Boq cried, jabbing his blade arm against the dragon's tongue. The dragon bellowed another long agonizing roar, and the jaws snapped closed once more, and Boq was pinned inside of the dragon's mouth, and his right leg somehow got caught between two of its teeth. The dragon took advantage of Boq's vulnerability, and jerked its head up into the air, flinging Boq loose and tossing him high into the air. Boq fell back down, right into its mouth.

_How am I going to kill this thing?! _Boq thought wildly._ He's just going to swallow me and then-_ A sudden idea struck him. _Wait, that's it!!_

Boq let himself fall, and the dragon's jaws opened wider, and Boq fell into its massive jaws, and the dragon promptly swallowed him whole.

_Bad mistake, lizard-brain! _Boq laughed.

* * *

Lance watched in horror as he watched his own brother swallowed whole. The dragon just ate his brother!!!

"What the hell?!" he screamed. "No! No, god damn it, Boq! You stupid bastard! Why did you have to go kill yourself?!"

Enraged, he charged at the dragon, ready to rip it to pieces. He furiously waved his sword high in the air, screaming like crazy.

"Hey, you stupid fuck-head!!" Lance screamed at the dragon. "Yeah you, you piece of shit!! I'm going to fucking kill you, bastard!!"

The dragon glared at him, and then reared its massive head and opened its massive jaws, prepared to launch another fireball at Lance. Lance held his shield in front of him, ready for the fiery impact.

Suddenly, the dragon let out a strangled yelp, and started to twist his head around like a corkscrew, its red eyes shut tightly, and it gave out a weak yelp filled with pain. It looked like it was choking!

The dragon collapsed on the ground, writhing in agony. Its claws ripped at its throat, and it continued to screech in pain. Its shrieks were strangled and muffled, and Lance slowly walked closer, wondering what was happening to it.

An ax burst from inside its throat, and Boq emerged from inside of the dragon, cutting it apart from the inside out. The dragon gave one final shriek of pain before it went limp and died.

Boq climbed out of the dragon's butchered throat and walked over to Lance, covered in blood and green slimy mucus. He shook off some of the slime and blood on his arm, and gave Lance a small smile.

"Now _that's _how you kill a dragon," Boq said with a laugh, still trying to shake off the slime that completely covered him from head to foot.

Lance stared at Boq, then at the dragon, then back at Boq. "No thank you."

* * *

Fiyero gaped in awe as he watched (from a safe distance, out of the fire's range) Boq kill the dragon. He smiled.

_Not bad. Not bad at all, my friend,_he thought. He unsheathed his sword and charged back into battle, now that the threat had been eliminated. He saw Dorothy off to his side, and they both made eye contact. Dorothy smiled at him, then continued to fight on using her powerful magic, with Fiyero watching her back. Fiyero kept a close eye on her, and saw that she was running out of energy. Dorothy was gasping for breath and her attacks became weaker with each spell she cast. She was covered in scrapes and burns. Fiyero began to worry. If they didn't end this war soon, she would die.

Then, through the smoke and crowds, Fiyero saw someone. He paused briefly to confirm what he had seen, and there was no denying it.

"Dorothy!" he called. "I see Morrible!"

Dorothy instantly turned around, fire burning in her eyes, and when she saw her, she charged at her, her energy renewed and more rage and fury burning through her than ever before.

_"She's mine!!"_ Dorothy screamed.

* * *

Morrible was in the midst of battle, watching, calculating, eliminating every filthy Animal she laid her eyes on. It was almost insulting how easy it was to kill them; one simple spell from the Grimmerie and the world was her oyster to choose who was worthy enough to live. And it was all thanks to those meticulous noted Glinda kept in her attempt to translate the ancient spellbook. Oh, how enjoyable irony was!

"MORRIBLE!"

She turned around. And there was that wretched little girl, Dorothy, clad in scorched and marred armor, covered in scapes and blood, and an enraged expression on her face. She was running straight at her, palms glowing bright with magic. She leapt at her, and threw a powerful spell right at her. With a wave of her hand, Morrible deflected it. She laughed.

"My dear, how do you expect to defeat me with such simple spells?" she laughed. Dorothy went rigid with fury, and held up both of her hands and blasted a more powerful spell at her. Morrible cast a shielding spell, which absorbed the magic of Dorothy's spell, and with a small push, Morrible cast the spell right back at her. Dorothy lifted her hands to form a magical shield, but it wasn't powerful enough to defend her from the impact of both her own spell and a healthy dose of Morrible's own. Dorothy flew backwards, and jumped up shakily. She was jarred and battered, and wiped away some blood dripping from her mouth. Her eyes were still full of a vengeful fire, and growing in intensity every passing second.

"I'll kill you, Morrible!" she hissed. "You murdered Anthony!!!"

Morrible laughed. "Foolish child, you cannot kill me! I am far more powerful than you!"

Dorothy let out a cry of fury, and blasted another powerful spell at her. Morrible contered with her own, and the spells collided head-on, pushing against each other. Morrible was easily suppressing Dorothy's spell, but Dorothy was struggling to maintain her own spell. Morrible pushed harder.

Dorothy let out a cry of pain, and fell to one knee, her arms shaking with fatigue as she furiously attempted to push against Morrible's magic with her own. But Morrible was right; she was much more powerful and much stronger. Dorothy tried to summon every ounce of her energy to fight back, but she was already on her last stretch of energy. Already she could hear her body scream in brutal protest of the unberable physical strain. She couldn't take much more of it. Her body began to falter, and her spell was slowly weakening.

Morrible walked closer, driving Dorothy back, and she collapsed onto both knees, driven into the ground. Just a little longer, and her spell would break, and Morrible would kill her. she needed to break Dorothy just a little bit more, and Morrible knew just how to do it.

"I'll let you in on a little secret!" Morrible said coldly. "Your little boyfriend was nothing but a coward! The way he begged for mercy, and how he begged for me to stop must have been humiliating for you to watch! You must be so ashamed how you're hero died screaming and pleading for mercy!" Morrible laughed coldly. "In my opinion, you're better off without him!"

Something inside of Dorothy snapped, and it wasn't her strength. A rush of rage flooded her, consuming her, and the rage within her fueled the fire to her magic, and she felt an incredible burst of strength as she listened to Morrible's cruel words. She grew furious with each word she uttered, and finally, Dorothy exploded.

"DONT!" She rose back onto her feet. "INSULT HUNK!" She pushed back against Morrible's spell, now driving _her_ back. "IN FRONT OF _ME_!!" With a surge of power, she blasted Morrible away from her, and she stumbled over her own feet, falling to the ground clumsily. Dorothy was livid with fury, and Morrible could see her magical aurora around her, a fiery mist enveloping her, appearing like a demon out of hell. And pissed as all hell.

Dorothy threw a fireball at Morrible, and she raised her arm to block it with a spell, but the spell was so powerful it still knocked her over once more. Dorothy fired yet another spell at her, and this one hit her square in the chest, crushing her lungs and breaking her ribs. Morrible lay on the ground, in excruciating pain and gasping for breath. She could feel her shattered ribs stabbing her lungs, and every breath was agony.

Dorothy stood before her, arm outstretched with a spell forming in the palm of her hand, her eyes glowing with magic, and ready to unleash everything onto her.

"And now, you will pay for all you have done! I will kill you and have my revenge for the murder of Hunk!!" Dorothy cried.

Even as she looked upon the face of death, she couldn't help but to laugh. "Go ahead and kill me, but we both know the truth! Killing me won't bring him back from the dead!!" Morrible said, then laughed once more as she waited for her death.

Dorothy's eyes watered, and her body began to shake. "Shut up!" she cried through her tears. "SHUT UP!!"

She fired the spell at Morrible, the most powerful she had ever cast. All her anger, all her rage, all her anguish and suffering was concentrated in that one little orb of magic. The spell hit Morrible in the heart, and her laugh suddenly ceased as she fell back against the ground. Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and her expression changed to shock and horror. Her head hit the bloodied earth hard. Morrible was dead.

A small wisp of blue smoke streamed out of her mouth, and the smoke grew larger and larger until her entire body was engulfed in the blue smoke. The smoke then condensed, then fired off high into the sky until it exploded, sending out a shockwave that spread throughout the enitre land. Wherever the shockwave touched, soldiers under her rule fell to the ground. The tin soldier army, what little was left of them, suddenly rusted solid and fell to the ground in pieces. Everything stopped. No one moved, not even the Animals.

But all Dorothy could focus on was Morrible's dead body, layig out before her. And the last words Morrible had said to her.

_Killing me won't bring him back from the dead._

Dorothy fell to her knees, and started to cry.

* * *

Fiyero looked around, seeing the obliterated army before him. His enemies lay at his feet, dead or unconcious he couldn't tell. Fiyer slowly walked up to one of the fallen soldiers, sword at the ready. The soldier groaned and pushed himself up to his knees, rubbing his head.

"What happened?" he muttered shakily.

Fiyero instantly had the tip of his sword at his throat. "Your queen has been killed! Surrender, or I shall kill you as well!" Fiyero said coldly.

The soldier stared back at him in horror, and started to shake with fear. But amist his fearful eyes, there was a tiny spark of hope.

"What did you say?" he asked shakily. "You said Morrible was- was dead? Is it true? Is she really dead?"

Fiyero nodded, still holding the sword at his throat. But there was something in his voice that left Fiyero uncertain. Something about him made Fiyero hesitant to kill him.

Suddenly, the soldier leapt to his feet and embraced Fiyero like a brother. Fiyero went rigid and stared at him in horror. The soldier pulled away from the embrace and beamed at Fiyero with absolute joy. Fiyero was thoroughly confused.

"Oh, praise the Unnamed God for you, Scarecrow!" the soldier cried happily. "You have freed us from her control! Thank you! I cannot possibly express how happy I am to be free again!"

"What?" Fiyero said stupidly.

"Morrible had us all under her spell! She forced us to obey her command and had been controlling our minds for months! And now that she's dead, we are free of her control! Thank you!"

Fiyero stared at him, debating whether or not he was telling the truth, but it was apparent that he was. The way he looked at him said it all; he was telling the truth.

He looked around. All the soldiers were now coming to, but no one attacked them, not yet at least. Fiyero immediately took action before they killed anyone else.

"Everyone! Lay down your weapons and cease! Morrible is dead! The battle is finally over! We are victorious!" Fiyero yelled across the battlefield.

A loud roar of cheer erupted throughout the battlefields as both armies rallied together, celebrating their victory and defeat of Morrible. Fiyero couldn't help but smile. They had done it. They had won the war!

* * *

Elphaba flew high in the air on her broomstick, using her keen vision to scan the scene below. The fighting had finally stopped! They had won!

Not wasting a second, she sped down to the ground, landing gracefully and searching wildly for Fiyero. And as she walked around the battlefield, she became conscientious of eyes falling on her. She looked around. All heads were turned, looking at her, the valley falling silent, hushed whispers scattering through the throngs of soldiers. They looked afraid and terrified. So, even after all these years and all they have been through, they still feared her.

But some of the faces were also uncertain, unsure whether she was a threat or a friend. She uneasily continued her search for Fiyero, with an uncomfortable feeling that now everyone was looking at her. She could faintly pick out what some of the nearby soldiers were saying.

"It's the Wicked Witch!"

"But how can she be wicked? She helped save us from Morrible!"

"Should she be trusted?"

"I thought she died!"

"Morrible was the one that declared her wicked! And Morribe's a liar! So she can't be wicked!"

Arguments began to stir among them, and Elphaba was somewhat relieved that they were beginning to figure out the truth. But she still couldn't find Fiyero-

"Elphaba!"

She turned around. There he was, with the biggest grin on his face. His uniform was torn and ripped and straw was poking out everywhere, his shredded tunic covered in blood, his arms also soaked in blood, but he didn't care. He ran straight at her and embraced her tightly. Elphaba could hear a gasp echo through the crowds, but Fiyero remained completely oblivious to everyone around him. Elphaba uneasily pushed him away.

"They're all staring at us," she whispered to him.

"Let them stare; I don't give a damn. Come here and kiss me, Fae! We've done it!"

Without giving her a moment to protest, Fiyero cupped her face in his gauntlets and kissed her full on the lips with such passion that Elphaba was caught breathless. She ran her hands along his face, savoring his presence and returning his kiss with just as much fire and passion. When they finally parted, Elphaba noticed that now everyone was staring at them, most of them hardly believing what they saw.

Fiyero looked at each of them sternly, daring any of them to challenge him. The soldiers all looked at one another, unsure of what to do.

But finally, one soldier from Morrible's army did step up, and gave Fiyero a small bow.

"Scarecrow, you have saved us from that wretched Morrible hag," he said. "And we are all in your debt. I trust you and your judgment. And if the Wicked Witch of the West was fighting with you, well, then I don't think she is wicked at all!"

The soldiers all agreed and nodded, smiling faintly. Over the murmurs of agreement, one soldier yelled out, "All hail the Scarecrow, and the Wonderful Witch of the West!!" The guards burst into cheers and cries of celebration, and many of them came forward to thank them for freeing them from Morrible's control.

Elphaba looked shocked, and Fiyero laughed. "Looks like you're 'Wonderful!'"

Elphaba smiled. "So now I'm 'Wonderful' . . . I can get used to that!"

Fiyero then suddenly remembered something. "Oh no . . . where's Dorothy?"

Elphaba looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. The soldiers seemed to notice their distress and their celebration was cut short. But, as Elphaba and Fiyero began to look around, hand in hand, it seemed like only the small handful of soldiers near them were the only ones that had been celebrating. It was only then that the true devastation began to sink in. Everywhere across the bloody field, there were others crying out in pain, both physical and emotional. Every loss, every death was a husband, a brother, a cousin, a friend, a father. Thousands of bodies littered the ground, their blood staining the soil and grass. Soldiers were bent over the corpses of their now deceased comrades, crying out their pain to the sky. But the Animals had it the worst. Their loss was by far more devastating. An Elephant could be seen kneeling down next to another Elephant, now dead, and holding its trunk in its own, massive tears falling from its eyes. Elphaba clutched Fiyero tighter, her heart torn to pieces to see death surround her.

Boq walked up to them with Lance, both covered in burns, but none with any serious injuries, thankfully. Boq was covered with large dents and deep scratches, but the physical wounds could not affect him. Lance had nothing worse than a few scratches and some large bruises and burns. Together, they scoured the field, looking for Dorothy. Not only was Dorothy missing, but Osio was gone also.

"Look! There they are!" Boq said, pointing to the top of a small hill.

And indeed, there she was, with Osio sitting next to her. Osio was badly injured, his fur matted with his own blood and huge gashes covered his back, and his front paw was cradled close to his chest, but he ignored his wounds to comfort Dorothy. Dorothy was hunched over, sitting on her knees, her bloody hands clutching the dirt below her fingers, shaking with tears. Her armor was battered and scorched, and her arms were covered with angry burns. In front of her lay the body of Morrible.

Fiyero walked up to her and knelt by her side. "Dorothy, it's ok. It's all over. We've won. Everything is alright now," he soothed, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

"No it's not," she whispered weakly. She looked at him with wet eyes, heartbroken. "'Killing me won't raise him from the dead!' That's what she said right before she died!" She collapsed, limply falling into his arms, and sobbing into his chest. "And she's right! Hunk's dead and he's never coming back! Oh, god damn it! He's never coming back! Oh Hunk!"

Fiyero could do nothing but comfort her, holding her close to him. He looked up to see soldiers gathered around, and each soldier saluted to him respectfully and lowered their heads in a sign of reverence.

They may have won. But Fiyero knew all too well that the price for their freedom was terrible. Thousands dead. Thousands of lives lost that would never return.

"Oh god . . ."


	24. My Son

Dorothy did not want to think about what was going to happen next. She wanted nothing more to do with the war. She wanted it all to be over. As she walked across the battlefield in a dazed, emotionally exhausted state, she wondered why she wasn't dead.

Across the field, she saw Freefall, laying next to Lazaris's body, crying. Dorothy walked up to her and gently rubbed her long neck in her attempt to comfort her. Freefall only cried harder.

Dorothy looked around her. She felt her stomach clench painfully at the sight of thousands of bodies littering the ground, dead or dying. She wanted nothing more than to join them, and Hunk.

But life had to go on.

Shortly after Morrible's death, the soldiers and Animals crowded around and raised the question. What now?

Fiyero stepped up to take charge and began to order that the injured should be immediately taken care of, and prepare graves for the deceased. a gryphon flew back to the barracks to retrieve Glinda and tell the others who couldn't fight that the war was finally over. But they needed Glinda desperately; hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers and Anmals have been gravely injured, and they were going to need every bit of help that they could get.

For the next long painful hours, the soldiers all gathered the bodies, and prepared to dig a massive grave right on the outskirts of the Emerald City. The task seemed endless; no matter how much they dug, there was still more to do. First aid tents were set up almost immediately to take care of the injured soldiers, and everyone that could began to dig the graves for the dead. Fiyero and Boq worked tirelessly for nearly half a day, but the others were still exhausted and many were gravely injured from the recent battle. Glinda, Elphaba, and Dorothy were doing their best to attend to the injuries of those who had the worst, but even with all of the witches' magical capabilities, many still died from infections and wounds that couldn't be healed in time. The other women from the barracks were doing everything they could, but sometimes, it still wasn't enough.

Soon, they were all forced to stop due to exhaustion. But still, Dorothy refused, insisting she still had enough energy to help.

"Fiyero, I'm fine! I need to heal-"

"No, you're not. You're exhausted. You need rest. You're doing no one any good if you work yourself to death-"

"I NEED TO SAVE THEM, GODDAMN IT!!" she screamed, starting to cry. "I couldn't save Hunk, and by fucking God, I'm not going to let anyone else die because of me!!"

Fiyero held her, and she sobbed into his arms. "I need to help! I need to save them! I can't stand seeing anyone else die! Please!"

"It's alright. Everything is going to be ok. You saved so many lives already. If you want to help others, you need to help yourself first. Now go get some rest."

Reluctantly, she nodded, and laid down in an empty cot, and almost immediately fell asleep.

Elphaba came up to him, tired and exhausted, but she still gave him a hug, closing her eyes as he rocked her back and forth.

"Your arm is almost completely severed," she muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"Your right arm is literally hanging by a thread," she said again. Fiyero looked down. She was right; his right arm had almost been cut clean off and only a few threads kept it attached. He wondered how he didn't notice it earlier.

"Want me to fix it?"

"Nah, I got it," he said, taking a needle and thread from her. "Thanks. Why don't you get some sleep as well?"

She nodded and also took a cot nearby. Fiyero sat on the edge of her bed and started to sew his arm back together, shoving all the loose straw back inside. He sighed. If only the other soldiers couldn't feel pain like he could. If only he could feel the pain, maybe he could actually live with himself.

Then, he saw Desnax walk inside the tent, covered in blood and slightly limping, and holding something large and black in her jaws. Fiyero slowly stood to his feet, hs heart sinking with dread.

"What is it?" he whispered, already fearing the worst.

Desnax lowered her head and set down what she was holding in her jaws on the floor. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.

Fiyero was frozen, staring at the black mass . . . covered with feathers . . . covered in blood . . .

"Oh, god, Teriom!"

He ran up to it, and gently cradled the Crow in his arms. Teriom was barely alive, his breaths coarse and labored. He opened his tiny black eyes at him, and smiled weakly.

"We did it, sire," he said feebly. "We did it."

"Don't speak. Just relax, everything will be ok. Hang on, I'll get you healed immediately-"

"Fiyero, no, don't bother-"

"You'll be fine. Elphaba! Where are you?"

"Fiyero, shut up, for once in your life and listen to me," Teriom squalked. "It's my time."

Fiyero's chest clenched painfully. "No, don't you say that, damn it! Don't you even think about dying! Elphaba! Glinda!!"

"Fiyero, please," Teriom whispered. "I'm too far gone. Just let me go."

Fiyero started to shake with grief, and clutched Teriom tighter, holding him close to his chest. "I can't," he said. "I can't let you die. I won't let you die!"

Teriom closed his eyes. "Who are you to determine who gets to live or die? Fiyero, It's ok. I'll be alright. Just . . . let me go . . ."

Fiyero watched as Teriom let out a soft sigh. His body relaxed, and his head rolled backwards, his beak slightly open, and he was gone.

Fiyero clutched Teriom closer, holding him tighter, shaking with dry tears. He pressed his face into Teriom's ebony feathers, kissing his head, crying with tears that he couldn't shed.

How many more people would he loose? How much more could be taken from him?

Why did any of this have to happen?

* * *

Fiyero carried Teriom's body away from the battle site, towards a nearby forest. He collected some large dry sticks, and made a funeral pyre small enough for Teriom. He gently placed Teriom's body on top, and using his hunter skills from chidhood, he started the fire with two small pieces of steel. Soon the pyre erupted into a hot fiery blaze that consumed Teriom's body. Ashes flew off into the wind to rejoin the sky, then gradually fall back down to earth to join it once again. It was what Teriom would have wanted.

Fiyero stared absentmindedly into the flames, thinking about just how easy it would be for him to just step into those flames. One tiny little spark, and he would be dead. But he couldn't give up on his life yet. Still so much to do. Still a promise that needed to be kept.

_Death is the fire that consumes us all,_ Fiyero thought as he watched Teriom's pyre burn. _It will consume everyone, some sooner than others. It's not fair. But when has life ever been fair?_

He stared up at the sky, and on the horizon, he saw a trail of crimson smoke, coming from the west. His heart plummeted to his feet. Just when he thought things couldn't possibly get any worse.

He bolted back to the battle site, and back to the first aid tents where Elphaba and the others were. Some of the soldiers were also staring at the red smoke curiously, wondering what it could mean.

Boq approached him. "What do you think red smoke is supposed to mean?" he asked, not really looking at Fiyero. But when he turned to look at him, he sensed Fiyero's panic. "What is it?"

"Red smoke is used to signal that . . . that one of the royal members of the Vinkan family . . . is approaching death," Fiyero said in a voice hardly louder than a whisper.

Boq's eyes widened. "Does that mean-?"

"My father is dying!" Fiyero said.

He bolted, taking the nearest horse and spurring it into a flat out run to the Vinkus. He was oblivious to everything around him. The only thing that mattered now was getting to his father's castle.

He had a promise to keep.

The horse ran without slowing for hours. But even with all its speed and endurance, Fiyero still felt it wasn't fast enough, and that he'd never be able to make it. Please, God, please, let me make it, he begged.

The castle appeared on the distant horizon, and Fiyero pushed the horse to go faster. Once at the gates, he jumped off the horse and ran as fast as he could up the palace stairs. There were a few guards, and they were startled to see him.

"Scarecrow!" one said in disbelief. "What in the name-"

"Where is King Larkspur?!" Fiyero demanded.

The guards hesitated.

"WHERE IS HE, GODDAMN IT?!" he yelled.

"He's in the upper tower!" a guard said, clearly afraid. "But you can't see him-"

Fiyero ignored him and ran past him, up to the tower. His heart began to grow sick with worry. What was he doing?! How would his father react?! But he promised . . . he promised! So help him, he would keep that promised.

He prayed he wouldn't be too late.

He approached the door that lead to the large chamber in the upper tower and slammed it open. Inside was a nurse with short brown hair. She yelped when he entered, and gasped when she saw who- or rather what- it was.

"Oh god! Scarecrow!" she breathed.

_Oh no, not Kiley,_ he thought. She had been his father's assistant over the last few years, and she hated him. Thankfully, she didn't recognize him in his new straw body.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, still recovering from shock.

"I need to see the king," he said. "It's very serious! Please, I must speak with him!"

"I'm sorry, but no one except family can see him," she said, then bitterly added, "And seeing that all his family is dead, no one can see him!"

Fiyero winced inwardly. So she still had hard feelings against him.

"Kiley, let me see him," he said.

"How do you know my name?" she asked suspiciously.

"Because . . . it's me! I'm Fiyero! I need to see my father now . . ."

Fiyero's voice died when he saw her expression. Kiley's face turned from shock to pure horror and hatred. Ashamed, he hung his head.

"You're still alive?!" she screeched. "You son of a bitch!! How dare you show your face here?!? You're the reason why he's like this in the first place!!! Get out of here, you freak! You–you monster!!"

Fiyero's pain and grief suddenly changed to anger and fury. "What the hell did you just say to me?!" he whispered, stepping closer and closer to Kiley. She retreated against a table, her eyes wide with fear. Her hand scrambled madly across the table, and when her hand fell upon a knife, she picked it up and pointed it at him.

"Stay away from me!" she cried. "You're a goddamn scarecrow!! You –you-"

"Let me see my father," Fiyero said again, slowly and quietly, but nonetheless utterly frightening.

With a shriek of horror, she lunged at him and stabbed him through the chest. Fiyero was caught off guard by her sudden attack, but it didn't matter. She couldn't hurt him.

Fiyero just stared down at her. She looked back up at him with fearful eyes rimmed with tears. He rolled his eyes, shook his head and sighed.

"If that could kill me, I would have died a long time ago," he said, wrapping his gloved hands around her own, which were clutched tightly to the knife protruding from his chest. Her hands twitched, and she gasped as he pulled the knife out. A few pieces of straw poked out from the gash, but it didn't make a difference.

Kiley dropped the knife and collapsed against the floor, sobbing. Fiyero was unsure what to do. When he tried to console her, she only scuttled away from her like a frightened child.

Hesitantly, he walked towards a door that led into a separate room. He looked over his shoulder. Kiley was still curled up on the ground, still crying.

"Is he in here?" he asked quietly.

She nodded weakly. "He's not going to be happy to see you. Especially like that!" she sobbed.

Her words were like a painful fire inside him, but he ignored it. He wasn't going to let whatever she said to him affect him. He came this far already.

There was no backing down now.

He reached for the knob, twisted it, and pushed the door wide open.

There was his father, lying on his back on an enormous bed, covered with a crisp clean white blanket and asleep. Fiyero nearly gasped when he saw the severity of his father's condition. Five years ago, his father had rich wavy brown hair, hardly touched by grey and his figure was strong and confident. But now, his hair had almost completely fallen out, just barely covered by a few strands of stark white hair, and his face was covered with wrinkles and his skin was pasty and horribly pale. It was as if he had aged a lifetime instead of only five years.

Fiyero took a few slow steps to the side of his bed. He could barely hear him breathing, and his chest hardly moved with each breath. He heard something move behind him, and turned around quickly. Kiley was at the door, leaning against the molding with her arms crossed, her lips quivering, but still angry.

"See what you have done? How you have disgraced him?!" she said venomously. "I hope your proud, my prince!"

"Shut up," Fiyero said angrily. "And leave me alone."

Without another word, Kiley shut the door behind her, and Fiyero could hear her footsteps marching angrily away.

He turned back to his father, still asleep.

"King Larkspur, please wake up," Fiyero urged quietly.

He groaned, and twisted in his bed slightly, and turned his head to look at him. "Wh- what is it?" he whispered, his voice coarse and weak. Fiyero clutched his fists, ashamed to see his once invincible father on the brink of death. His father slowly opened his eyes and squinted at him in the dim light. "Who are you? I can't see a thing. Please turn on the light, whoever you are," he said quietly.

Fiyero hesitated for only a moment before he went to a desktop nearby and switched on a gas lantern. The room was bathed in a soft glow, shedding light everywhere. When his father saw him, he leaned up, his weary eyes growing wide . . . with fear.

_You freak! You monster!_

Fiyero tried to block out Kiley's words, but they echoed through his head mercilessly. He approached his father slowly, and he could visibly see him back away from him.

"Please, I'm not going to harm you," Fiyero said.

"What do you want from me?!" his father said, seeming more lively than he was previously.

"I need your forgiveness."

Larkspur furrowed his brow. "Why?"

Fiyero placed the lantern back on the table and kneeled by his bed. He reached up to take his father's hands, but stopped himself. Larkspur still glared at him with horror. Fiyero's heart began to break.

"Do you not recognize me?" he whispered.

"I have never seen a talking scarecrow before in my life," his father said with a hint of anger, his voice still weak and soft. "Of course I don't recognize you."

"I have something to confess . . . I've been alive all these years but I was too ashamed to tell you. But a friend made me swear that I would tell you everything and beg for your forgiveness."

"I don't understand. Who are you?"

"Fiyero," he said simply, looking his father right in the eye while saying it. "My name is Fiyero."

His father stared at him, not believing a word what he just said. "No . . . it can't be!"

"But it is," he said firmly, taking his father's hand. "I'm alive, father. I've come back, to beg for forgiv-"

But before he knew it, his father had wrapped his arms around him and enveloped him in a bone-crushing hug, if he had bones. Fiyero was so shocked he couldn't even think. He heard his father start to cry with joy- cry!

"My son! You're alive! Oh, praise the heaven of the Unnamed God, my son is alive!" he sobbed with happiness.

Fiyero was speechless. "But . . . but . . ."

"I don't care what you look like! All these years! Oh, Fiyero, you have no idea how happy I am to see you!"

"Happy?!" Fiyero exclaimed, pushing himself away from his father's embrace. "But . . . you locked yourself up in a tower for weeks with shame and nearly died!"

"Shame?! Fiyero, I could never be ashamed of you!" he said happily. "I knew you had your reasons for whatever you were doing! I locked myself up in that tower because I was so grief stricken to hear that my only son had died! Fiyero, I love you, no matter what! It is I who needs your forgiveness for letting them try and kill you!"

His father hugged him tighter, and Fiyero slowly put his arms around his frail body.

"I . . . I'm so sorry," he said. "I should have told you everything before I ran away with Elphaba. I shouldn't have been so impulsive."

"You? Not impulsive? Now there's two words I thought I'd never hear in the same sentence!" his father laughed.

"Yeah, it's usually 'shallow,' 'brainless,' or 'self-absorbed!'" Fiyero said, also laughing.

"But you must get out of here," his father said urgently. "If Morrible discovers that you've been here-"

Fiyero couldn't help but laugh.

"Son, this isn't something to laugh about," Larkspur said seriously.

"It's not that. I have some good news for you. Morrible is dead!"

His father stared at him, wondering whether or not to believe him. "Morrible . . . is dead?"

Fiyero nodded. "Yes. You see, after the wizard left Oz, I went into hiding to start a refuge to keep Animals safe, and I've been building up an army to overthrow Morrible for a long time now. Only a few hours ago we have fought her army with my own . . . and we won! We killed Morrible and liberated everyone from her control!"

"Fiyero, that is wonderful news!" Larkspur said happily.

"But now, I don't know what's going to happen to the rest of us," Fiyero said worriedly. "Who's going to rule the country now? How are we going to fix all that Morrible has destroyed?"

"Oh, have no worries, my son," Larkspur said. "I know just what to do. Leave everything to me and I'll get something figured out," he said with a mischievious grin.

"Oh, and I have onemore thing to ask."

"Fire away, my son."

"I want your blessing to marry Elphaba Thropp, the woman who saved my life and whom I am deeply in love with."

Larkspur raised an eyebrow. "That wouldn't happen to be the Witch of the West, would it?" he asked carefully, taking extra precautions to leave out 'wicked'.

Fiyero nodded with a smile. "That would be her. Oh, father, she's absolutely wonderful. I love her so much, and I owe her everything."

"Then, in that case, you have my blessing!" Larkspur said happily, kissing Fiyero's forehead. Fiyero smiled excitedly. "On one condition," he added seriously.

Fiyero felt his stomach begin to sink. "Yes?" he asked uneasily.

"Get yourself changed back to normal! I want grandchildren!" he said in the same serious tone.

Fiyero stared at him for a moment, then they both broke off into laughter, and embraced each other once again.


	25. The New King

Kiley listened intently, with her ear pressed up against the door, but all she could hear was a mumble of words. Both were speaking in low voices, and occasionally she could hear one or the other laughing. Laughing!

Furious, she slammed opened the door to see Fiyero sitting in a chair casually talking to King Larkspur. She gaped at them.

"What in the name of god is going on here?!" Kiley screeched.

King Larkspur smiled at her. "Kiley, my lovely assistant! Isn't it wonderful! Fiyero's alive, and he's returned to me!" he cried with joy, squeezing Fiyero's shoulder.

Kiley went stiff. "I've noticed." She saw Fiyero looking at her and gave her a snicker, as if to say _in your face, bitch._

King Larkspur then threw off his covers and stood up. Fiyero rushed to his side and offered his assistance, but Larkspur only waved him off.

"I'm perfectly capable of standing on my own two feet!" Larkspur said somewhat impatiently.

"But you're seriously sick. You must rest," Fiyero insisted. Larkspur still pushed Fiyero away.

"Don't worry my dear boy, I'm quite alright. Now, please excuse me as I change into something more appropriate than this nightgown."

Fiyero and Kiley both awkwardly went outside his room, and waited outside his door.

"Ha, ha," Fiyero said triumphantly.

"Shut up. I still haven't forgiven you," Kiley said angrily, folding her arms across her chest.

"I don't need you to forgive me," Fiyero said with a smile.

They waited for a few minutes more, but the silence and tension between the two was ungodly unbearable. Fiyero shifted on his feet anxiously, his straw body rustling and crackling, and Fiyero could see Kiley shudder out of the corner of his eye.

"I still can't believe you're alive," she muttered.

"How can you not believe it when I'm standing right in front of you?" Fiyero said somewhat testily.

Kiley shook her head. "I just can't believe . . . you're . . ."

"A scarecrow?"

Kiley shuddered again

The door opened behind them, and Larkspur stepped out wearing a red tunic and black trousers. He was also holding a Lion Cub in his arms.

"So is it finally safe to come out?" the Cub asked eagerly.

Fiyero stared at it. The Cub looked so stunningly familiar. But where had he seen a Lion Cub before?

Larkspur laughed. "Yes, it's quite alright now. You're safe."

The Cub let out a little roar of happiness, and he looked up eagerly to Fiyero. "Can you help me find my daddy?"

"Of course. Do you know who your father is?" Fiyero said.

"Yes!" the Cub said excitedly. "He's the King of the Forest!"

_"Osio's your father?!?!"_ Fiyero exclaimed. The Cub nodded. Now he knew why the Cub looked so familiar! He was the spitting image of Osio, when he was only a cub! Fiyero was filled with ecstasy. "He's going to be overjoyed to see you! I thought all his kin had been killed!"

The Cub looked at the ground sadly.

Larkspur spoke up. "He was the only survivor. Everyone else fell victim to Morrible's campaign. I was able to find and save him before Morrible could get to the poor little thing. I've been hiding him ever since."

Fiyero nodded. "Come on, let's get you back to your father. He'll be so happy to see you."

"I'll come with you, and spread the word that Morrible has been vanquished!" Larkspur said excitedly. "And I would also like to meet Miss Elphaba."

"Who's Elphaba?" Kiley asked suspiciously.

"My fiancé," Fiyero said excitedly.

"You're going to get married?! Like that?!" Kiley shrieked.

"She'll turn me back, now shut up," Fiyero said angrily.

"What is she, a witch?!"

"Yes!"

"You can't possibly mean the Wicked Witch, can you?" Kiley said in horror.

"She's not wicked, damn it!" Fiyero said angrily.

"Both of you, stop, you're acting like children!" Larkspur said distastefully.

"Yeah, grow up!" the Cub said.

Fiyero laughed. "Oh, and you're quite the grown up, aren't you?"

The Cub nodded.

They exited the chamber, Kiley a little reluctantly, and outside, there were five guards waiting, and were stunned to see the frail old king on his feet.

"Your Majesty, is everything quite alright?" one of them asked. "We apologize for the intrusion of the scarecrow, but he was most insistent."

Larkspur laughed. "Gentlemen, everything is perfectly fine! I have never felt better, in fact! And may I inform you that this fine gentleman has just informed me that he and his army had succeeded in vanquishing Morrible!"

The guards nearly dropped their weapons. "But how?!" they exclaimed.

"It's quite a long story," Fiyero said sheepishly. "But that's not very important. What is important is to go out and spread the news, and get every able man out to the Southern Plains, a few miles west of the Emerald City. We need as much help as we can to take care of the soldiers killed in battle."

The guards only stared at him.

"You heard what he said! Off with you!" Larkspur ordered. The guards nodded, and left, each staring at each other in bewilderment. Larkspur turned back to Fiyero.

"How bad was it?" he asked solemnly.

Fiyero hung his head sadly. "It was the most devastating battle in the history of Oz. I've never seen anything so terrible."

The Cub whimpered. "Is my daddy ok?"

Fiyero nodded. "Yes, he's alright. Come on, let's go."

They headed out to the grounds and they each grabbed a horse to ride back to the plains. The whole ride took only a few hours, and very little words were exchanged. THe tension between all three of them was near breaking point, and Fiyero was feeling extremely uncomfortable . . . exposed . . . vulnerable.

Fiyero was so lost in his own thoughts he didn't even notice that his father had ben trying to ask him a question until he literally rode up beside him and yanked his ponytail. Fiyero jerked around.

"Uh, yeah?" he said uneasily.

"I haven't seen your Bird, Teriom, was it? You never go anywhere without him." he said.

Fiyero felt his chest clench painfully yet again, and he cast his gaze to the ground, gripping his horse's reigns tighter. "Like I said, it was devastating. Thousands lost ther lives. Teriom was one of them."

"My son," Larkspur said compassionately. "I am so sorry."

Even Kiley, who had been making rude comments through the entire trip, was struck silent. No one sid anything more until they reached the temporary encampment. When they did reach the first aid tent that elphaba had been at, Elphaba was already awake and waiting for him with Boq, Glinda, and Dorothy. Fiyero lept off his horse and ran to her, embracing her tightly. Elphaba hugged him back, her expression concerned and worried.

"Is everything ok?" she asked. "Boq said that . . . that the smoke meant that your father was ill. Is he alright?"

Fiyero laughed. "Yes, he's fine. In fact," he turned around and lead her to his father, who had already dismounted his horse. "I'd like to introduce you to him. Elphaba, this is my father, King Larkspur. Father, Elphaba Thropp."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," Elphaba said bashfully as she gave a clumsy bow.

Larkspur chuckled, and gently grabbed her hand and kissed it. Elphaba flushed a dark violent green. "The pleasure is all mine. Now I finally get to meet the woman who saved my son's life. I am eternally in your debt."

Fiyero didn't think it was possible, but Ephaba turne an even darker shade of green. She could only smle and bowed her head respectfully.

Larkspur turned to the others, and gave a questioning look at Boq. "You would not happen to be the Tin Man, now, would you?"

Boq nodded uneasily. "Well, now it's technically steel, but the same, nonetheless."

"Where's my dad?" the Lion Cub demanded impatiently.

Elphaba stared down at the little Cub. "And what is your name, little one?"

"I'm Kodu," he said proudly.

"He's Osio's Cub," Fiyero explained.

Elphaba's eyes widened. "Really? That's wonderful! Speaking of which, where is he?"

"He's in the fields, helping with the bodies," Dorothy said, pointing around back.

Together, they all walked around the back. They saw him, hunched over, helping dragging bodies into a pile. He turned around, and saw Fiyero approach him.

"That's all of them. We've got them all bagged and ready for burial." He sighed. "It is absolutely dreadful, Fiyero. I've never seen something so terrible before."

"I think I might have something that will make you a bit happier," Fiyero said with a wide grin.

Osio gave him a skeptical look. "I doubt it."

Fiyero turned around, and motioned to his father. Karkspur gladly placed the Cub on the ground, and Kodu bounded up to his father as fast as he could. "Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!!" he cried happily.

Osio was stunned. "Kodu?!" he cried. "But . . . oh, my word! You're alive!!" He ran up to his son, and hugged him with one massive paw. They rubbed their noses together, and Osio licked his son lovingly, Osio's eyes wet with tears of joy.

"Oh, Kodu! I am so happy you're alive! I thought you were dead! All these years! Oh, Kodu!"

Fiyero watched them, and Elphaba slipped her arms around her waist, she too also crying wth happiness.

"It's about time we had a happy ending," she said. Fiyero hugged her.

Dorothy was also happy for Osio and the reunion with his only surviving son, but she hung her head, tears also in her eyes, but not out of joy.

"Do I get my happy ending?" she said bitterly. "Of course not."

Glinda placed a hand on her shoulder. "Dorothy, I am so sorry."

She shook her hand off. "Just . . . give me time to myself." With that, she walked away from everyone else, to somewhere more secluded and alone.

Larkspur walked up to Glinda. "Is she ok?" he asked gently.

Glinda shook her head sadly. "She lost someone very, very close to her. He was a honorable man, great man, a hero. And he was killed . . . horribly." Glinda bit her lip to fight back the oncoming tears. "It was so horrible, for her, and I just feel terrible. She came from a completely different world, and he was the only thing she had. I feel awful!"

Boq put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close to him. She cried into his shoulder harder, and tears also streamed from Boq's eyes.

Larkspur was deeply moved, and thought for a moment, long and hard.

"Where is his body?" he asked.

"It's back in the barracks," Fiyero said. "We still have to retrieve it and give him a proper burial."

Larkspur nodded, still deep in thought. He motioned for them to follow him, and he began to discuss his plans for the future.

"First, we must tell the people what has happened. I don't think anyone can tell the story better than you, Fiyero," he said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "You must be the one who will tell the people what has happened. I have no doubt that after anything they've been through, they will be more than willing to listen to the truth."

Fiyero nodded.

"Then, we must appoint a proper ruler to replace Morrible. I already have someone in mind, and he'll be a great and noble leader, I can assure you of that."

"Who is he?" Boq asked.

Larkspur smiled. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough," he said mischieviously. With that, they retrieved horses to travel to the Emerald City to spread the news, and they also managed to convince Dorothy to join them. The journey only took an hour or so, and when they approached the city, people began to cheer and welcome them with much rapture and excitement. All around them, people burst with cries and cheers of joy, thanking them and bowing down to them. Everyone was stunned, Fiyero could hardly say a word, and Elphaba was flushing a dark green again.

"A celebration throughout Oz that has to do with me," she whispered, a tear sliding down her cheek. "I can't believe it, but they are cheering for us! The prophecy I had envisioned came true!"

Glinda was once again in her fmiliar surrounding, being surrounded by people who adored her. She waved back at everyone, and shined her brlliant white smile for all to see. Glinda seemed to almost glow with happiness.

"Oh, Boq! Isn't this wonderful!" Glinda said.

Boq nodded, too stunned for words.

They reached the Palace, and they descended from their horses and stood on the top steps, all together; Boq, Glinda, Elphaba, Fiyero, Larkspur, Dorothy, Osio, and of course his son Kodu. Larkspur raised his hands, and the crowds fell silent.

"As you all are well aware of, I am overjoyed to say that these fine heroes have succeeded in killing Morrible, and have liberated us from her heartless tyranny!"

The crowds burst into applause, and Larkspur raised his hands, and gradually the crowds fell silent once more.

"And as you might also be aware of, the battle that has taken place to vanquish her has resulted in the deaths of thousands of men, the most terrible war this country has ever seen," Larkspur said, his voice growing solemn. People in the crowds bowed their heads sadly, and the silence in the crowds was almost absolute. Larkspur continued. "And thus, after my brief statement, it should be put into effect immediately that a cemetery be built to honor those who gave their lives, no matter which side they were on. And to give our respects to one of the great heroes who died in battle."

Fiyero exchanged looks with Elphaba, and she squeezed his gloved hand tightly.

"But now, we must find a suitable replacement as the new ruler of Oz, and indeed, I have found a worthy ruler to take the throne. He has shown great courage, leadership, and undying love and compassion to those closest to him, and I have no doubt that he will be a magnificent ruler and will do the best for this country. And as the only crowned head of the country, I uptake the full responsibility in naming a successor to the throne, and it is my great pleasure to announce, by the power invested in me as King of the Vinkus, to appoint my son, Fiyero Tiggular, as the new King of Oz!!"

"What?!" Fiyero cried, just as the crowds burst forth with applause and celebration. Larkspur motioned him forward, and Fiyero shakily took center stage. The crowds then began grew confused and shocked upon seeing Fiyero standing before them. He cleared his throat.

"Uh . . . thank you, father," he said shakily. The crowds began to whisper to one another, wondering if it was possible that the Scarecrow was actually Fiyero. "I know this may be hard to believe, but yes, I am a scarecrow. It's a long story, which must be told, and the truth must be unearthed and revealed." He took a deep breath. "As you may have guessed, the wizard was a fraud and a cruel dictator, lying to keep himself safe at the price of other's lives."

Fiyero then told them everything, leaving out only the very personal and private details, but other than that, he told them everything. He was a magnificent storyteller; from hi first word, he had captured the attention of everyone, and they hung on his every word, listening intently to everything he told them. He was a powerful speaker, and his emotions were strong throughout the story, emphasizing especially painful and torturous parts, which even made some of the women burst into tears. When Fiyero had finished telling his story, the crowd was stunned and moved beyond words, and no one spoke or dared to tear their eyes away from him.

"And now, as the new King, I have only one final word. I trust my father's judgement, but I must also listen to the opinion of the people. If anyone does not wish for me to be king, please say so now, and I will step down and find a worthy suitor."

But the crowds were silent. No one spoke up. Faces turned in the crowds, looking at one another, wondering if anyone was going to challenge him.

"All hail Fiyero!" someone suddenly shouted. The crowds all at once exploded in raptuer, chanting his name. Fiyero was deeply moved, and stunned, to see the people actually choose him to be the king.

Elphaba came up to his side. "The people have spoken, Your Highness!" she said with a laugh. "Don't worry, you'll be a great ruler!"

"Oh! I have one more announcement!" Fiyero cried happily, waving at the crowds. "It's only fitting a king should have an heir, so . . ." He turned to Elphaba and knelt on one knee, taking one of her hands into both of his.

"Elphaba, you are the most beautiful, wonderful woman I have had the pleasure of knowing," Fiyero said passionately. "You are so strong and brave, and have always been by my side, through the bad times as well as the good." From inside his jacket, he pulled out a tiny red velvet box, and held it up to her. He opened it, and inside was a beautiful diamond ring on a silver band, surrounded with emeralds and sapphires. it was the most beautiful and exotic thing Elphaba had ever seen. "Elphaba, my beautiful Fae, will you marry me?"

Even though Fiyero was pouring his heart out to her, she was still shocked and bewildered to actually hear him say those words. She cried with happiness, and her hands leapt to her mouth, and she began to cry with joy. She nodded feverently, too moved to speak. Fiyero slipped the ring on her finger, which fit perfectly, and they embraced each other, kissing more passionately than ever before. The crowds cheered, and Glinda ran up to Elphaba and hugged her, congratulating her. Larkspur smiled proudly, and Dorothy smiled shyly. She was overjoyed for them, she truly was.

Elphaba turned back to Fiyeo and cupped his face in her long slender hands. "Before we do get married, I swear to you, I'll change you back," she said.

Fiyero smiled. "I'll do everything I can to help."

* * *

**And that, my dear readers, is my final tribute to the original Wizard of Oz novel! Lol.**


	26. Memories and Scars

**Whoo, man, I'm really busting out these chapters!**

**What's that, three in a couple of weeks? The first sign meaning I have no life. XD**

**But, I just can't stop writing these chapters! It's so much fun!**

**This chapter almost made me cry, too. Almost.**

* * *

With help from every available person from every corner of Oz, the cemetery, which would be called the Hero's Cemetery, was quickly built, gravestones and coffins were made, and after much hard work, the cemetery was finally ready. But before the project even began, Larkspur assigned a small group of the most talented sculptors to erect a special statue for the cemetery. In only a few days, the thousands of bodies had been placed in their graves, and the gravestones were set. There was only one body left to be buried.

Fiyero himself led the procession back to the barracks to retrieve Hunk's body. He, Boq, and Ferior together were to carry his body on a stretcher to the cemetery. There, a beautiful pure white casket was waiting for him, and a gravestone of black onyx was already carved and sculpted.

The path back from the barracks to the cemetery was lined with people holding small candles, dressed in black, in homage to the man who they deserved a large part of their freedom to. Dorothy walked besides them, never leaving Hunk's side, her hand clutched in his, looking ahead defiantly with fresh tears streaming down her face.

There was a soft rain, moistening the ground, sending the world into a dull, foggy grey. The rain felt so fresh and so pure, so cleansing, washing the soil of the blood from the dead. Dorothy looked longingly at the sky, wishing to see Hunk once more. But he was gone, cast into the sky.

But in her heart, she knew he was watching her.

They arrived at the cemetery, and carefully placed his body in the casket. A tall statue covered in a white cloth stood just behind his gravestone, and Dorothy wondered what it could be. There was a stage set up in front of the cemetery, and Fiyero took to the stage, looking up at the rain with the same longing, longing to feel again. He sighed, and looked out to the crowds gathered in front of him to listen to his speech of dedication. Many of them were relatives and friends of the soldiers who died, and even the gryphons had come out of hiding, and the public welcomed them with open arms. Many of them were also scattered through the crowds, and Fiyero was somewhat relieved to see many Animals among the throngs of people. With Elphaba, Dorothy, Osio, Boq and Glinda by his side, he began his speech.

"Death is the fire that consumes us all. No one can escape its hunger, but many can agree that this fire, death, has taken the lives of those who didn't deserve to die. Words cannot possibly begin to describe the terror and tragedy these men had faced, and the horror they had endured," Fiyero began, once again captivating the people with his powerful words. "Which is why this cemetery was built; to honor and remember those who helped to free and liberate us. Most fought against their will, and we will also remember them as heroes in their own way, heroes for withstanding inhumane cruelties. We remember them as well." He paused. "But one hero stands out amongst all. His name was Anthony, and he came from another world, Dorothy's world. When Dorothy received the letter begging for her help, he came with her, out of love and compassion. He did not even know whom he was fighting for, but he knew in his heart he was fighting for a brave and noble cause. His strength never failed, not even in the face of death, not even as he was brutally tortured and killed by none other than Morrible herself. It has been a great honor to have met him, and it has been an even greater honor to have been his friend and mentor. He sacrificed his life for us, in hopes that we would overcome and defeat the enemy. His sacrifice, indeed, has not been in vain. He has taught me much in the tragically short time we have known one another. He taught me to be strong and courageous, to face our fears no matter what, and to always and truly stand up and protect what is most precious to us. His name shall forever be remembered as one of the greatest heroes in Oz, and the best friend a man could ask for."

He paused, and looked at Dorothy. She was silently crying, her head cast downwards, clutching her hands, and shaking with tears. The crowds were also touched and moved, and many of them were wiping tears from their own eyes.

"In his name, we have built this statue-" The cloth covering the statue fell down, billowing behind it, revealing a pure white stone statue, carved out of the purest marble. It was an exact replica of Hunk, fifteen feet high, standing on a large white pedistal. Hunk had a determined pose, looking out infinitely to the horizon, his expression one full of compassion and determination. Dorothy gasped in awe, and was humbled to see that Larkspur would do something so honorable for a man he had never met. She smiled with pride. The statue was exactly how Dorothy would have wanted it to be, and new tears, tears of pride and joy, fell from her eyes.

"We have built this statue in his honor, and as a reminder for all he had done, and the freedom he had granted us," Fiyero finished. He turned around, and dutifully saluted. "Anthony, my dear friend, I salute you."

Ferior, who was standing off to the sides with a line of soldiers, raised his sword. The soldiers readied their guns, and fired simultaneously off into the sky once, twice, three times before some sort of instrument, an instrument with a sad, mournful tune, began to play. And once again, the crowds were moved as they listened to the mournful music. Dorothy stared up at the statue, and gently placed her hand on the cool marble.

"I will never forget you," she whispered.

* * *

The rain finall stopped, just at the end of the dedication ceremony, and everyone quietly exited through the black iron gates, not wanting to disturb the solemn air. Dorothy stood by the statue, gazing up at the statue's white marble face, so stunningly similar to the real thing.

Elphaba approached her. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Dorothy nodded weakly. "Yes. I'll be fine. I just need some time alone, and pay my last respects."

"Of course," she said compassionately. "If you need me, I'll be at the palace. If you want to later, you can help me look for a reversal spell."

Dorothy turned around and smiled sadly. "Thank you. I'd like that. I'll be there in a few minutes."

Satisfied, Elphaba left her in peace.

Dorothy looked up at the statue again, sadly. "Oh, Hunk, I'll miss you so much," she whispered, tracing her fingers over the engraving on the pedistal the statue stood on. The words read:

_May your spirit find peace, and strengthen us all._

_For you have been through the fires and flames of death._

_May you guide us all to live our lives to their full potential, _

_As we remember your selfless and noble deeds._

Pure poetry, so moving, so touching. Hunk would have liked it very much. She looked up at the clearing sky, the sun's rays peeking through the thick grey clouds, slivers of pure sapphire blue shining between the clouds.

"We'll be together one day. And I swear to you, I will love no other like I love you."

* * *

Elphaba was once again in a familiar surrounding, at a table covered with thick heavy old books, but instead of being alone as she was used to in the days of Shiz, she was surrounded by her friends, Boq, Glinda, and Fiyero, each of them working equally hard to find the spell to reverse Fiyero and Boq back to their normal human selves. Glinda rummaged through every scrap of paper in Morrible's office, but did not find the Grimmerie, which Elphaba was almost positive contained the spell she was looking for. So they turned their search to the library, scouring every corner of the massive and seemingly endless bookshelves.

"If I were Morrible, where would I hide a powerful spellbook?" Elphaba mumbled to herself.

"Under her bed," Fiyero called out jokingly. He was standing on a ladder, searching the upper shelves. Boq, who was on the opposite isle of Elphaba, snorted, rolling his eyes.

"I don't think Morrible would be that stupid," Boq said.

"I'll go check!" Glinda said, then bolted out the door before anyone could say anything.

Fiyero twisted around and watched stupidly as Glinda ran out the door. "I wasn't being serious," Fiyero muttered.

Not more than five minutes later, Glinda came back, beaming with happiness, carrying a large book in her hands. "I found it!" she squealed with delight, waving it above her head. "And it's right where you said it would be! Right under the bed! Fiyero, you're so clever!"

"Wait, are you serious?!" Fiyero cried, nearly falling off his ladder. "You found the Grimmerie _under Morrible's bed?!"_

Glinda nodded. "Well, there was a trapdoor underneath her bed, and the book was hidden underneath it, so it wasn't too obvious. Took me a minute to open it, but I managed! Almost broke a nail, too," she said, sounding a little irritated.

Fiyero jumped off his ladder, and ran up next to her, gripping her tightly. "God, I love you," he said with a wide smile. "Now let's open it, and see if we can find the spell!"

Glinda did so, and for the next hour, they scoured the pages, which seemed to never end. Elphaba read into every word, trying to translate as fast as she could read. Boq, who was extremely talented in foreign languages, also learned the language of spells quickly, and helped Elphaba read through the pages, stopping if they even saw anything that could remotely help them.

Finally, they stopped on a page that looked very promising.

Elphaba mentally translated the note at the top of the page, then read it out loud. "'This spell can be used to reverse most of the spells in this book. However, it is highly dangerous, and no one except a professional should even dare attempt it. It is not promised if this spell can reverse every spell. Use extreme caution before proceeding.' Well, at least we know that this _is_ a reversal spell," Elphaba said worriedly.

"Yeah, but it says it can't reverse every spell," Boq said worriedly. "What if it can't reverse ours? Then what?"

"Then we find another spell," Fiyero said simply.

Elphaba read further, then went pale with worry. "Wait . . . it says that if you attempt this spell on something irreversable, the object you were casting on will be destroyed." She looked up, terror in her eyes. "We can't risk this! You're both in danger of getting killed!"

Fiyero exchanged looks with Boq, and they both looked back at Elphaba.

"We should try it," Fiyero said determinedly. "We have to try."

"But you can die!" Elphaba protested.

"Fae, I know it'll work. Just trust yourself." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "Please. I know you can do this. You're the most powerful witch in the world." He looked around, then pulled her closer so only she could hear him. "Elphaba, I want to feel you again. I want to hold you. I can't bear to be in ths body any longer, not when we're so close. I have faith in you. I know you can do this."

Elphaba looked up at his beautiful blue eyes, full of longing and love. Elphaba took a deep breath.

"Alright. I'll try." she said determinedly. Fiyero smiled happily.

Just then, Dorothy and Larkspur walked in together.

"Ah, Fiyero, how is your search going?" Larkspur asked.

"We found a reversal spell!" Fiyero said happily. "We're going to try it!"

Dorothy cried with surprise. "That's wonderful! But," she said, her tone turning more serious. "You should try it first, and make sure it works."

Elphaba smiled. "That's a good idea."

"Try it on me," Boq said, stepping forward.

"Boq! No!" Glinda said in a panicked voice. "We'll try it on something else first."

"Go ahead, Elphaba," he said, ignoring Glinda. "I trust you."

Elphaba looked at him, full of determination and resolute. Elphaba nodded, read the spell several times before she actually performed the spell. Then, she began to chant, rhythmically, slowly, her voice growing louder and faster with each words, her hands waving and dancing in front of her. Light glowed from the palm of her hands, and grew brighter and brighter. When she finished the spell, the light vanished instantly.

No one moved for several minutes. And nothing happened.

Boq was the first to break the silence. "So, what now? Nothing happened! What do we do now?"

Elphaba sighed with defeat, her arms slumping to her side. "I don't know. We have to try-"

But she stopped when she heard Boq scream with pain. He doubled over, clutching his sides, his face covered in agony. Glinda ran up to him and placed her hands on her shoulder, but puled them back almost instantly. Her hands were red and looked as if she had been burned.

"His skin feels like it's on fire!" she cried.

Everyone could only watch in terror as Boq continued to scream, his metal skin slowly shifting, bending, almost as if he was melting. Glinda crashed to her knees and started to cry. Elphaba felt tears in her own eyes. Oh no . . . he was dying!

The metal changed to liquid and started to drip onto the floor, and beneath the metal was human skin . . . tan, pinkish skin! Glinda's tears stopped, and she continued to watch with awe.

The steel continued to melt off his body, and slowly, Boq's screams of pain ceased. He raised his hand, and the metal dripped off his hand, revealing a normal, human hand in its place. Boq laughed with joy, and in only a few minutes, he was completely transformed, standing before everyone, human again. He was exactly as Dorothy remembered him as, five years ago, and looking five years older. Tall, lean, and with shaggy dark brown hair and kind silvery eyes. But Dorothy could have sworn his irises looked more metallic than she remembered them being.

And, unfortunately, he also had no clothes on, much to everyone's embarrassment.

Boq, humiliated, but happy, nonetheless, grabbed a large nearby book and held it in front of him, flusing as red as a beet.

"Um. . . Elphaba, as happy as I am to be myself again, could you get me some clothes?" Boq said bashfully.

Larkspur, laughing, pulled off his own robe and draped it around Boq, who all too willingly took it and tied it tightly around himself. Glinda instantly leapt at him, hugging him tightly and kissing him passionately on the lips. Boq, at first surprised, overcame his sense of shock and immediately grabbed her tightly, taking in every sense of her presence, kissing her fiercely.

"Oh, God, Glinda!" he breathed, panting after their kiss. "You have no idea how wonderful it is to feel you!" He placed his hands on the side of her face, then fingered through her beautiful golden locks, tears streaming from his eyes. He kissed her once again. "I have never been so happy!"

He then stopped, and looked down at hs chest, and placed a hand over his heart. He once again laughed with joy.

"What is it?" Glinda asked.

"Here! See for yourself!" Boq said excitedly, grabbing Glinda's hand and placing it over his chest. "Can you feel it?"

And she did. The unmistakeable beating of a heart.

"I have a heartbeat again! I can feel my heart beat!" Boq cried with joy. "Oh, Glinda!" They kissed passionately once again, and Boq turned to Elphabaa, still holding Glinda in his arms. "Thank you."

Boq and Glinda held each other tightly, and then Elphaba turned to Fiyero. "Now it's your turn."

Fiyero smiled eagerly and stood before her, ready for the spell. Again, Elphaba chanted the spell, but this time, she stuttered a few times and her voice wavered a bit, but she never stopped. If she stopped . . . she couldn't bear to think what would happen if she did. The light formed again in her palms, and once she finished the spell, there was stillness and silence . . . but for only a second.

Flames leapt at Fiyero's feet, and although he flinched, he did not move from his spot. The flames climbed up his body, and Elphaba saw him wincing in pain. His fists clenched tightly as the flames spread through his entire body. Soon every inch of him was covered in fire. Larkspur watched, nervous, scared, and anxious. Elphaba prayed for the best, begging her spell would work.

Finally, all at once, the flames vanished, and Fiyero fell to a crumpled heap on the floor, lying face down. Elphaba ran to his side, and turned him over onto his back, and gasped.

He was human again! He smiled weakly, and raised his hand, cupping her face, his warm, gentle hand, no longer made of cloth, but out of flesh and blood again! Tears fell down Elphaba's face, and the two embraced each other, kissing passionately, lost in each other. Fiyero ran his hands all along her body, his hunger for her neverending. How she smelled, the texture of her skin, the texture of her dress and hair, it was overpowering, and Fiyero could not get enough of it. Elphaba traced her fingers down his green tunic.

Fiyero was just how she remembered him; tan skin, long soft blond hair, but most of all his blue diamond tattoos. There was one on his forehead, and one at the corner of each eye, and two on each side of his handsome angular face. Elphaba stroked his hair, which was now yellow-blond intead of the golden color of straw.

"Take off your shirt. I want to feel you again," she said through her tears.

Fiyero all too willingly obliged, and took off his jacket. But Elphaba jumped back away from him, screaming in horror, her eyes going wide.

"Oh my god!!" she cried.

Dorothy and the others ran up to her. "What is it?!" Dorothy asked, and they saw. They too were horrified beyond words when they saw Fiyero's body.

His entire torso was covered with large painful white scars. Fiyero could only stare down at himself, completely lost for words. Elphaba began to sob.

"Oh, this is all my fault!" she cried. "Why do you have scars?! This isn't supposed to happen!!"

"It's like every wound I had recieved as a scarecrow transferred over into my human body," Fiyero whispered. He looked at his arm. Two round scars were exactly where he bolted his gauntlet into his arms, and the circular scar around his arm was in the same exact spot where his arm had been nearly severed. And the large white scar in the middle of his chest, right over his heart, was where Malnor had stabbed him. Even around his wrists and collarbone were angry red markings, just where he had ropes tied around his arms and neck.

Elphaba placed her hands on his chest, and began to chant another spell.

"What are you doing?" Fiyero asked.

"I'm getting rid of those scars for you," she said, with tears still in her eyes.

Fiyero took her hands in his own and pulled them away gently. "No," he said simply.

Everyone gasped simultaneously.

"But why?" Elphaba cried, fresh tears in her eyes.

"All this time, I've wanted to feel pain, to feel anything. I wanted to be human again. I have felt guilty that no matter what, I could never get hurt as I watched my comrades around me dying. I want this to be a reminder, for me, of all we've been through, and my burden to bear. A remider, that I too have suffered as well."

Elphaba stared up at him, into his deep blue sapphire eyes, and looked away, shaking her head. "I still don't understand."

"Hey," he said, lifting her head gently, making her look in his eyes once more. "Can't you be happy we can now finally be together again?"

Elphaba gave a small smile, and they embraced each other once again, finally, after five long years, truly together again.

Larkspur clapped his hands together and everyone turned to look at him. 'Well, this is certainly wonderful! Everyone is back to their old selves, and now we can celebrate my son's wedding!" he cried happily.

"I was wondering, actually, if we could celebrate both of our weddings at the same time," Boq said happily, his arm around Glinda's shoulder. Glinda giggled happily.

Fiyero gaped at Boq. "Did you . . .?"

"He proposed to me, only a few hours ago!" Glinda squealed with delight, holding out her hand in front of her. On her ring finger lay a silver wedding band with a brilliant diamond. And the band wasn't silver or gold, but looked more like . . .

"Boq, is the band made of _tin_?" Elphaba said, perplexed.

Boq nodded. "After I got my tin replaced with steel, I managed to stow away a small piece and made a ring in secrecy. One of the ironsmiths was kind enough to give me a diamond he found while he was mining for iron ore. I cut it myself," he said proudly.

"And it couldn't be more beautiful, love," Glinda said passionately, and they shared another kiss.

"Boq, you ass," Fiyero growled angrily. Boq and Glinda both looked up at him, surprised. "Why didn't you tell me first?"

Fiyero then laughed loudly, and they too joined in. Dorothy also laughed, finally happy to see everyone back to themselves again.

"So then it is set!!" Larkspur declared. "The wedings of Fiyero Tiggular with Elphaba Thropp and Boq Stithson with Glinda Uppland will take place in one week!"

"_One_ _week_?!" everyone shouted simultaneously.

"Isn't that a little soon?" Fiyero said worriedly.

Larkspur's kind old eyes twinkled mischieviously. "Never, my dear boy," he said. "Underestimate my power!"

* * *

**If you guys are still confused why Fiyero wants to keep his scars, don't worry. It'll be explained more thoroughly in later chapters.**

**But anyway, on with the weddings!!**


	27. Handprint On My Heart

**I thought writing battle scenes was hard. But I found out that writing wedding scenes was much, much harder. DX**

* * *

Larkspur led Boq to one of the many guest bedrooms in the palace, and gave him a new crisp suit. Fiyero also pulled off his tunic and uniform, which he had worn for nearly all five years as a scarecrow, and changed into an emerald green jacket decorated with numerous gold braids and metals and black trousers and sturdy black boots. He was incredibly happy to be back in his human body, every sensation was delightful and he would savor everything he touched or smelled. Elphaba was with him wherever he went, and he never left her side.

Boq, finally dressed and ready to announce the arrangements for his marriage to Glinda, went in search for Fiyero to discuss the plans. As he walked through the palace, he saw his own mother, father, and Lance, apparently looking for him. His mother looked at him, and curtsied politely. Boq's heart fluttered. They didn't even recognize him! He smiled as a mischevious prank came to mind, and it was too good to pass up.

"Kind sir, would you have happened to have seen a man made of metal?" his mother asked him gently. Boq found it especially hard to supress his roars of laughter. But he managed, and put on a very serious and deathly tone.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he said seriously. "The metal man which you speak of no longer exists."

His mother's eyes widened with terror. "No longer exists?! Do you mean he's . . . he's _dead_?!"

Boq couldn't contain his laughter any longer. He burst out laughing loudly, clutching his stomach.

"This isn't funny!" his father roared, gripping his collar. "That's my son!!" Boq ceased his laughter, and looked at him, grinning widely.

"I didn't say he was dead, I said he no longer existed," Boq said with a wide grin.

His father glowered at him, but then his expression changed from anger to shock. He stared at him, realization covering his face.

"Boq . . ?" he whispered quietly.

Boq smiled. "Hey, dad."

"BOQ!! You're human again!!" hs father exclaimed, hugging him in a bone-crushing hug. Boq gasped, but relished the feeling of hs embraced, and hugged his father back. It was such a wonderful feeling to finally be able to embrace another person with something other than cold unforgiving limbs.

His mother screamed with delight, and placed a hand on her mouth, too shocked to say anything. She simply ran at him and cupped his face in her hands and kissed his cheeks. Boq gripped her tightly, savoring the familiar scent of her perfume. Lilacs. How he missed that smell.

"Boq, my son!" his mother wept. "I can't believe it! This is just so wonderful! I finally have my little boy back!"

He closed his eyes, smiling, and he could not think of another time when he had been happier. Lance was too stunned to do much of anything at first, but finally he stepped forward and placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Well, I guess this means I can beat you up again without getting my butt kicked!" Lance laughed. Boq laughed as well.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Lance!" Boq said. "I haven't forgotten how to fight!"

"Yeah, but now you're a big softy!" Lance said, then poked him in the stomach. Boq jumped, laughing.

"Stop! That tickled!"

"Oh, really?" Lance said with a sneer, then tackled his brother, tickling him. Boq laughed so long and hard his stomach began to ache, but it felt so damn good to feel all of this sensation again. God, when was the last time he had been tickled?

Finally, Lance stopped and they hugged each other, Boq wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. Glinda then came up to them, and greeted them kindly.

"Oh, Glinda, Your Goodness! So nice to see you!" Boq's mother said pleasantly.

Lance looked up at her. "So, Miss Glinda, what are you up to?"

Glinda smiled. "I'd like to talk to my fiance," she said. Boq stood and smiled, blushing slightly.

All heads turned to Boq, and he could feel himself swell with pride. "That's right! Glinda and I are getting married!"

"You're getting _what_?!" Lance exclaimed. Boq's mother squealed with delight, and tackled Boq yet again with another flurry of kisses.

"Oh, Boq, why didn't you tell us?!" she asked.

"I wanted it to be a surprise!" he said. "And we'll have our wedding at the same time as Fiyero's, in a week."

"A week?!" his mother said. "Isn't that a little . . . soon?"

"Don't worry, King Larkspur said that he'd get everything ready in time. He's a good man, I'm sure he'll manage it somehow."

"Oh, well then!" his mother said again, clapping her hands. "Let's all get something to eat! Especially you, Boq! You haven't eaten in how long now, five years?" she said with a wink.

As if on cue, Boq's stomach then growled loudly. He did in fact feel famished, and his stomach roared again with hunger.

"I'd like that very much," he said happily.

"Well, what should we have? Chicked dumpling, pot roast, some nice warm soup, or how about some pasta, or fish! You love fish!"

Boq laughed. "I don't even know where to begin!"

"If you're hungry, the chefs of the palace are preparing a banquet," a voice said. They turned around. Behind them was Fiyero, standing with Elphaba and myself, also changed out of our old clothes and into new clean dresses. Elphaba was wearing a simple black floor lengthed dress, and I wore a sky-blue dress that reached just a little below my knees.

"Your Highness!" Boq's mother said, taking a bow. "Nice to see you're also back to your old self!"

Fiyero smiled. "Please, just call me Fiyero. We're all friends here, no sense in all these unnecessary formalities!"

Boq's mother blushed. "Oh, yes, of course . . ."

Just then, a plump, pleasant looking man approached them, bowed respectfully, then, adressing Fiyero, said, "Your dinner is served."

Fiyero clasped his hands together. "Excellent! I'm starved! I haven't eaten for five years!" He laughed, and turned back to Boq and his family. "You're all welcome to join us. Elphaba, Dorothy and Osio are coming as well, and Larkspur will go over his plans. And afterwards, I'll be properly crowned king."

Boq's mother's eyes widened with excitement. "A crowning ceremony! I haven't been to one since the wizard took the throne, and I was only a little girl at the time! How exciting!"

Fiyero nodded with a kind smile, and led them to the dining hall where a hearty banquet lay before them.

The intoxicating aroma of food hit Boq full force in the face, and his stomach growled with hunger again. There were so many foods to choose from, Boq couldn't even decide what he wanted to eat first. Breads, fresh green salads, cooked vegetables, plates of fine cut meats and fresh fish, steaming bowls of pasta, and a whole array of desserts, so much wonderful foods Boq hadn't had the pleasure of tasting for years. Fiyero was also at loss for words, and he walked up to the table and helped Elphaba in her seat before seating himself. He eyed all the foods crefully, unsure of what to pick first.

"What would you like?" Elphaba asked.

Fiyero thought for a moment, then said, "Pass the rolls, please. And a glass of ice water."

Larkspur, who was sitting on Fiyero's left, looked surprised. "Just some bread and water? No wine or beer or meat?"

Fiyero shook his head. "Bread will do just fine."

Larkspur shrugged, and passed him a basket of rolls. Fiyero picked up one, and took a small bite from the roll, and chewed it very slowly and closed his eyes, savoring every bite. "Good lord, how I miss eating. This is just so delicious." He took another small bite, then swallowed, and took a long sip from a glass of water.

Boq filled his plate with everything within arm's reach, more food than he'd ever seen at one sitting. He bit into the first thing he grabbed, which happened to be a chicken leg. He savored every bite. It was so wonderful to finally have all his senses back.

Fiyero, however, didn't eat anything more than his simple roll. He looked at the food, lost in thought. Finally, he stood, and adressed one of the cooks, who all too willingly rushed to his side to answer his question.

"Do the rest of the people have enough food for themselves?" he asked simply.

The cook looked confused. "No, sire, I don't believe so. She heavily taxed the people to raise money for her campaign. Many people went hungry. Couldn't afford it."

"Then why do we have so much food?" Fiyero asked quietly. "We don't deserve this any more than the rest of the people. Take whatever surplus of food you have and give it to the ones who really need it. We sure as hell don't."

Boq stopped eating, swallowed his food, and looked down guiltily at his own plate.

"We'll start redistributing the food, so that everyone can eat, not just us," Fiyero continued.

The cooks did as he asked. Outside, they brought cartloads of food, and people by the hundreds lined up to recieve a bag filled with enough food to feed their entire families for a month. Even after all the people left, satisfied with a large sack of food, there was still plently left. Fiyero then ordered the food to be taken to the villages outside the city, and to not come back until the huge cart was empty.

After their dinner, Larkspur arranged for the crowning ceremony to begin, to officially appoint Fiyero as King of Oz.

"Come now, my son!" Larkspur said. "We need to properly crown you! And then we can announce the arrangements for your marriage!"

Fiyero nodded, and followed his father out onto the balcony of the palace with his friend. This balcony was the same one that the Wizard gave his farewell speech and departed in his balloon, all those years ago. And already people were crowded around to hear Fiyero take the Royal Oath. Normally, the Oath was only to crown a ruler in the Vinkus, but since there was no official crowning for the King of Oz, Larkspur decided to use the Vinkan Oath, with minor variations.

As soon as Fiyero stepped out onto the balcony, cheers erupted, and the people began to chant his name again. Fiyero felt a swell of pride, and it took Larkspur five full minutes to quiet the crowds.

He turned to Fiyero, holding an ancient scepter, and nodded. "Kneel, Fiyero Tiggular," he said in his deep booming voice. Fiyero did so.

"Do you, Fiyero Tiggular, swear to the Unnamed God, and to your people, and to the land itself, that you shall rule Oz with fairness and equality, and show no bias towards any man or Animal?"

"I do."

And do you swear to only think for the best of this country, and to swear to be loyal to the people as they will be loyal to you?"

"I do."

"And do you swear to protect the public, and defend them from harm, and never make a decision that shall intentionally harm anyone under your rule?"

"I do."

"And do you swear you shall not corrupt nor defame the names of your subjects, and respect the opinion of the people, and allow for every voice to be heard, however small and meager?"

"I do."

Larkspur smiled. "Then, by the power invested in me, I crown you in the name of this land as the King of Oz! May you live long and may you lead this country to a brighter and more glorious future than ever before! Long live the King!"

"All hail the king!" the crowds roared in unison, and in a very regal manner, a man approached Larkspur, carrying a beautiful golden crown resting carefully on a red velvet pillow. Larkspur took the crown, and placed it on top of Fiyero's head. Fiyero smiled, and rose to his feet, and saluted the people. The roar of celebration rose, and Elphaba came up to his side, holding his hands and smiling as well. In her beautiful brown eyes, there was hope, something Fiyero had not seen in quite some time. Hope for a brighter and better future.

Fiyero raised his hands and the crowds fell silent. "I cannot possibly express how much joy it has filled me to be crowned king today," he said. "And, to celebrate, my father, the honorable King Larkspur, has arranged for my marriage to Elphaba Thropp to take place in one week!"

There was another cheer, but of course within that cheer was confusion and shock, much like Fiyero when his father first told him. Fiyero only laughed.

"I know, I know, it seems very soon and sudden, but my father has assured me that he can make it happen. I doubted him at first, too. I didn't think this old man has what it takes to put on a wedding!" Fiyero laughed, gripping his father's shoulder, and the crowds also laughed along. "But along with my own wedding, my great friend, Boq Stithson, will also have his wedding to Glinda the Good at the same time. I don't think two weddings at once has ever been attempted before, but why the hell not! Let's go for it!"

And so all the preparations were made. Never before had Fiyero seen people work so eagerly and so excitedly. And, true to his word, in a week, everything was set and prepared for. The weddings were to be held in a beautiful chapel just a few blocks away from the palace, and the reception was being held in the most luxurious ballroom in the palace. I walked in awe around the glorious ballroom, decorated with beautiful floral arrangements, and sparkling like a gem. I felt a rush of excitement about the upcoming weddings.

I went up into my own room, and there waiting on my bed was a beautiful and elegant sky-blue dress with tiny diamond-like rhinestones scattered around the hem of the dress. I slipped it on carefully, and put on an elegant diamond and sapphire necklace and matching diamond earrings with turquoise. A hairdresser then came in to cut and style my hair.

The hairdresser, Vynn, beamed at her. "Oh, Miss Gale, you look positively radiant." I blushed.

It took Vynn a whole hour and a half to fashion my long chocolate-brown hair into an elegan bun, and carefully placed diamond-studded bobby pins all over my hair. Vynn also did my make-up, and when she had finished, I gasped at my reflection. It was hard to believe the beautiful and almost regal-looking young woman in the mirror was me.

Vynn smiled approvingly. "Why, if I didn't know better, I would have thought you were the one getting married!" She then left, once again telling me the wedding was in an hour and an escort would be waiting in the main hall for me.

I sat in silence, smiling back at the girl in the mirror. How much I had changed in only a few weeks. Or had it been months? How long ago had I arrived in Oz?

I shook my head, and placed a manicured hand on my forehead. If only Hunk was there to see me now, he would be so happy . . . he would be telling me how beautiful I looked . . . and he would have been so proud of me. . .

I felt a tear fall down my cheek, and I carefully brushed it away. Without thinking of it any further, I rushed down to the main hall, carefully carrying the hem of my dress. There, my escort was waiting for me, a handsome man a few years older than myself.

"Good evening, Miss Gale," he said politely. "It is an honor to be your escort tonight. My name is Riacco Tellito."

"Pleased to meet you, Master Tellito," I said, curtsying. Riacco offered his hand and helped me up into a carriage that would take us to the chapel.

I took my place at the altar, and I would be posing as both Elphaba's and Glinda's bridesmaid. The chapel was already filled with people and Animals, and I could see Freefall among the crowds, and I waved at her. Freefall caught my eye, and nodded with a sad smile.

The ceremony began, and Ferior and Lance walked up the isle. Ferior was to be Fiyero's best man, and Lance would be Boq's. Next, both Fiyero and Boq walked down the isle together, Boq's mother in between the two gentlemen. Fiyero looked absolutely handsome in a black and green uniform similar to the one he had worn as a scarecrow, but was more decorative. Boq wore a smart black tuxedo. They approached the altar, and nodded at me. I returned the gesture before they took their proper places.

Then, the big moment. All heads turned towards the back, where Glinda and Elphaba would be making their big entrance. But first came the flower girl, Ferior's two-year-old daughter Lana, and Osio, the ring bearer. He carried a small black box delicately in his mighty jaws, but before the two of them walked down the isle, Osio paused, placed the box on the ground, looked around disappointedly, and said, "I don't think I'm adequate for this job. Isn't this job supposed to be for the Ring Bear?"

Everyone laughed lightly at Osio's joke, and the two of them walked down the isle. And from behind them Glinda and Elphaba emerged, accompanied by Larkspur, each of them a sight to behold. Many in the crowd gasped in awe at the two beautiful women, and even I couldn't decide who looked more beautiful. Glinda wore a pure white gown sparkling with diaminds and rhinestones, her gently curling golden hair wrapped up in a bun. Elphaba stood by her side, wearing a simple white gown. But something about her simple dress enhanced her beauty and she looked more stunning than ever. Her long black hair flowed out behind her like liquid and shone in the light. They both walked down the isle together, holding each other's hands, both exchanging excited smiles. Fiyero and Boq both looked at them proudly, each stunned by their beauty.

They reached the altar, and Glinda hugged Elphaba before the ceremony began.

The ceremony passed by much quicker than I thought, and soon, they were exchanging the vows. The priest, or whatever they were called in Oz, looked down at his book and cleared his throat.

"Do you, Fiyero Tiggular and Boq Stithson, agree to take this woman's hand in marriage, through the bad times as well as the good, through health, and in sickness?"

"I do," Boq and Fiyero said at the same time. The priest nodded, and Osio came up, bearing the rings. They each took their ring, and slipped it on Elphaba's and Glinda's finger.

The priest continued. "And do you, Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Uppland, agree to take this man's hand in marriage, and pledge to always support and love him, through trials and dangers, through turmoil and peace?"

"I do," they said at the same time, then giggled together. Elphaba was blushing again, and Glinda could hardly contain her giggles of excitement.

"Men," the priest said. "You may now kiss your respected bride." The crowd laughed, and Fiyero embraced Elphaba and planted a huge, passionate kiss on her lips. Elphaba threw her hands around his shoulders. Boq and Glinda followed suit, and the crowds cheered and exploded with celebration. Fiyero then swept Elphaba off her feet and carried her out the door, into a carriage waiting for them to take them to the reception. Boq and Glinda followed them, walking hand in hand. I sighed, and followed after them along with the rest of the crowds.

If only Hunk were still alive, we would be at the altar together, and we too would have been married. I shook her head. Now wasn't the time for such thoughts. I should be happy that there was finally peace and happiness. Hunk would have wanted me to be happy.

Riacco came up to her. "Dorothy, it would be an honor if you were to accompany me to the reception," he said with a bow and offering his hand. With a smile, I took it, and walked with him back to the palace.

* * *

The reception passed by quickly, and the dinner was absolutely wonderful. Never have I had such extravagant and luxurious foods. When we had finished the dinner, Fiyero stood and tapped his glass with his fork, and a hush settled among the crowd.

"As you are all aware of, I am now the King of Oz, but we should also assign others to power in each of the four sections of Oz," he said. "And I would like to appoint Osio as the King of the forest, to reign among the Animals in the South!"

A respectable applause rose among the guest, and quieted down when Fiyero waved his hands.

"And, for the East, I appoint Lance Stithson as governor of Munchkinland!"

Another applause.

"For the north, Boq, and his lovely wife Glinda!"

Another applause, this time a little louder.

"And finally, the West. I have thought long and hard about this, and I have decided that Miss Dorothy Gale, the Good Witch of the West, should reign!"

I jerked my head around and stared at him. "What?!" I gasped. "You--you want me to--to be the ruler of the west?"

Fiyero nodded with a huge grin on his face. "I have no doubt you will be an excellent ruler! And, as a gift, I give you Kiamo Ko."

"You're giving me your castle?!"

He shrugged. "It's the least I can do for you."

I blushed violently. "I . . . have no idea what to say."

"Then don't say anything," he said with a smile. "Now come on, now! Let's dance!"

He turned to Elphaba, and took her hand. They walked out into the dance floor, and immediately the orchestra sprang to life, playing an upbeat and cheery tune. Fiyero danced with unmatchable grace, and Elphaba glided across the floor as if she were on ice. Their movements were so synchronized and fluid and so beautiful. They both beamed at each other and their eyes never left one another. When the song ended, they kissed. Boq and Glinda joned them on the dance floor just as the band started a very slow song, for the newly weds only. Boq placed his hands around Glinda's waist and took her hand in his own, and slowly twirled her around the dance floor. Fiyero lovingly embraced Elphaba and never let her go, and I had never seen anyone as happy as Elphaba or Glinda.

I was smiling, and I didn't even notice that I was crying until Riacco came up to me and asked what was wrong.

"Oh! Oh, nothing, nothing," I said hurriedly, quickly wiping my eyes with a hankerchief. "I . . . I'm just really happy for them is all."

Riacco gave me a skeptical look. "That's not all, is it?"

I shook, and my body threatened to break out into an all-out sob. I managed to give him a kind smile and shook my head.

"No, it's ok. I just need some air." I then made my exit, rushing outside onto the balcony. There, where I was alone, I lost control, and cried.

* * *

Fiyero saw Dorothy hastily walk out of the ballroom and onto the balcony. He felt his stomach tighten, and Elphaba looked at where he was staring.

"Oh, Fiyero, I feel so terrible," she whispered. "She must be so upset."

Fiyero looked down at his newly wed wife. "Come on, let's go talk to her." He tapped Boq on the shoulder. "Make sure no one follows us, ok? We need to talk to Dorothy alone."

Boq nodded with understandment. "Alright."

Fiyero then walked calmly out with Elphaba, and Boq then requested an all-time favorite song, to which everyone joined in and danced, allowing Fiyero and Elphaba the seclusion they needed.

Dorothy was sitting on one of the benches, and crying into a hankerchief. She stopped whe she saw Elphaba and Fiyero, and rose, and tried to give a sincere smile.

"Oh, hey, what are you doing?" she asked, trying to keep herself from crying again.

Fiyero just came up to her and hugged her. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Dorothy broke out into sobs again, and Elphaba rubbed her back, with Fiyero rocking her gently back and forth. They sat on the bench, and Dorothy was able to calm herself and wiped the tears from her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I shouldn't be crying. I should be happy for you. You're finally together and married! I'm such an idiot for breaking down like that."

"Don't be," Elphaba said gently. "I understand, more than you know. It's ok to cry."

She nodded, and inhaled a shuddery breath. "I just miss him so much."

Fiyero then pulled out a tiny black velvet box, and held it out to Dorothy. She stared at it for a long time, and looked up at Fiyero.

"Hunk gave it to me the night you came to the barracks," he explained. "He wanted me to hold on to it. And now, I think it's time for me to finally give this to you."

Dorothy took it hesitantly, and slowly opened the box. She gasped and nearly dropped it upon seeing what the box contained. She was silent for several minutes, staring at the wedding ring. She then smiled widely, and tears of joy rushed down her cheeks.

"Oh, Hunk . . ." she whispered. "It's beautiful." She slipped it on her finger with her eyes glimmering with happiness. She rose to her feet, and cast her gaze upwards to the infinite stars shining brightly in the clear peaceful night.

"I love you, and I always will," she said. "I'll always be yours, and no one else's."

* * *

**This isn't the end!!!! Stay tuned!!**


	28. Going Home

**Hey y'all! How was your Turkey Day?! Mine was fun, thank you for asking. I loooooove apple pie. **

**Anyway, sorry this chap took a while to get out there, but since I had Turkey Day at my house, I had a crap load of work to do to get ready. I was really busy. ^^;**

**Oh, a little warning: sexual elements in the first section of this story, nothing too graphic. Because every author needs to write a good sex scene.**

**Shield your eyes, children! D8**

* * *

Fiyero slipped into the room later that night, closing the bedroom door and stepping carefully over to the bed, where Elphaba was waiting for him. He had been dreaming of this night for years now, and he could hardly contain his exitement. Elphaba glanced up at him with the same excitement, but also with nervousness. Fiyero might be experienced, but this was one thing Elphaba was new at. But Fiyero would teach her well.

Elphaba was wrapped up in the sheets, the moonlight shining off her beautiful emerald skin, and Fiyero slipped into the bed, planting his lips onto hers. She caressed his face, then her hands flowed down to his shirt, and she began to undo the buttons. Fiyero tossed off his shirt, his lips never leaving hers. He then kissed her chin, then her neck, and she leaned back, and he traveled further down, kissing her chest before working his way back up to her lips. His hands caressed the white sheets off of her exposed body, and she let them fall, gripping his shoulders tightly and running her hands across his back. She ran her fingers along his many scars, gently touching them, and her hands continued to slide lower to his waist. Fiyero slipped his own hands around her chest and pulled her closer, the heat of the moment intensifying to breaking point. Elphaba inhaled sharply, and they became one. Every movement was filled with passion and excitement, and Fiyero relished everything. That night, they finally were truly together, one soul living in two bodies.

* * *

Fiyero woke with the sun shining in his eyes, and turned over in his bed. There laid Elphaba, still sound asleep, the blankets only covering half of her body. Fiyero stroked her beautiful black hair, and her eyes fluttered open. She looked at him with weary eyes and smiled.

"Good morning, Your Highness," she said.

"Good morning, you sexy little thing," he teased, then leaned forward for a kiss. They wrapped their arms around each other and closed their eyes for another five dreamy minutes. Fiyero had flashbacks of the night before. Wonderful memories. Some of the happiest in his life. So full of passion.

But he could sense that Elphaba was tense beneath his strong arms. He looked down at her.

"Is something wrong?" he asked gently.

Elphaba sat up, pulling the covers up over her naked chest. "It's just that . . . I've been thinking . . ."

"Uh-oh, that can't mean anything good," Fiyero joked.

Elphaba smiled sheepishly. "Yes, Fiyero, I can think. I'm rather good at that, or don't you remember when we were in school?"

"No, no, I remember."

Elphaba laughed. "Good." But her voice grew quieter, and she lowered her head, her eyes sad and lost.

"Fae, what's the matter?" he asked gently, caressing the side of her face.

"Well . . . we're married now . . ."

Fiyero was about to laugh, but the look on his precious wife's face silenced him.

"And you probably would like to have kids one day . . ."

Fiyero felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He knew where this conversation was going.

"Fae, not one more word," he said gently. "What happens will happen, and-"

"No! Fiyero, just stop and listen to me!" Elphaba pleaded. "Fiyero, I-I'm scared. Honest to god. What if . . . what if our child is . . . like me?"

Fiyero smiled. "I sure hope so. We need another intellectual to run this country!"

"That's not what I meant," she said harshly. But Fiyero knew what she was trying to say. He slipped one arm around her shoulder.

"Why should it make any ounce of difference?" he asked. "Green, purple, red, blue, why should skin color affect how we should treat our kid? Just because it's different doesn't mean it deserves any less of our love."

Elphaba sighed. "It's not us I'm worried about. It's the rest of the world. I don't want her-or him-to go through what I went through."

"And she-or he-won't," Fiyero said simply. "If I must, I'll make a law against it! I'm the king now, remember? Things will be different."

Elphaba stared at him, who was grinning widely, but she could sense the seriousness behind his words. She couldn't help but smiling.

"I don't think the people would like that law too much."

"Well, too bad for them," Fiyero said with a grin, then kissed Elphaba's cheek. "But why are you worrying about this now?"

She shrugged. "Well, we did . . . you know . . . and I was just thinking what would happen if I were to get . . . pregnant." Her words started off strong, but her voice softened until she was barely whispering. Her grip also tightened on the sheets, and she was blushing ever so slightly. Fiyero knew she wasn't completely comfortable talking about such things.

Fiyero hugged her. "We can worry about that later."

"But, Yero, there's something else I'm worried about," she said timidly.

"Twins?"

She guffawed, but quickly regained control. "No, not that. It's Dorothy. I have also been thinking . . . she really has nothing here. All of her personal possessions are back home. Maybe she would feel more at home if she had some of those things with her. Maybe we should go back to her home and retrieve her valuables. I'm sure that would mean a lot to her."

"Good God, woman, just how much thinking have you been doing?" Fiyero joked. Elphaba playfully slapped his shoulder. Fiyero leaned in closer to her. "But I agree with you one hundred percent. Come on, let's go find her."

Fiyero hopped out of bed, then into the shower. Elphaba slipped out of bed, carrying some of the sheets with her, and also changed into a simple black floor length dress. The only color that could match her unique skin was black, and navy blue. In a few minutes, Fiyero was out of the shower and was vigorously drying his shoulder-length blonde hair with a towel. He had another towel wrapped around his waist, and Elphaba gave him a smile, but her eyes drifted, and she found that she was staring once again at his scars. Fiyero frowned.

"Do they hurt?" she asked quietly.

"A little," he said after a brief pause. "But no. You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine. Really, I am."

Elphaba nodded, then turned back to a mirror and began to comb out her long black hair. Fiyero changed into his usual uniform and tied his long hair back up into a ponytail. After they finished getting ready, they went to Boq and Glinda's room. Fiyero could distinctively hear Boq snoring from behind the door. He chuckled, and Elphaba also giggled.

He banged loudly on the door. "RISE AND SHINE YOU OVERSIZED EX-TRASH CAN!!!" Fiyero bellowed.

"Fiyero!" Elphba scolded.

Inside, he could hear Boq snort loudly, and a mumble of angry words.

"Fiyero, that better not be you," he heard Boq growl from inside.

"Whadozhewan?" Glinda murmured sleepily.

"Get up!" Fiyero shouted. "We have something we need to tell you!"

"What?!" Boq grumbled.

"ELPHABA'S PREGNANT!!"

"WHAT?!" Boq and Glinda gasped from inside the room. They heard a mad shuffle, and in less than a minute, Boq was at the door. He opened it, and stared at them.

"Are you serious?!" he said.

"No," Fiyero said.

There was a long silence. "What do you mean you're not serious?!" Boq yelled.

"Elphaba's not pregnant. I just said that to get your lazy butt out of bed," Fiyero said calmly.

"Fiyero, you're so cruel," Elphaba said with a wide grin.

Boq glared at him for a very long time. "You ass."

"But since you're awake, can we come in? We do have something we'd like to tell you," Fiyero said.

Boq only continued to glare at Fiyero angrily, but after a brief silence, he opened the door and motioned them inside.

"Wait!" Glinda squealed. "I'm not decent!" She buried herself in her covers.

"Glinda, we're all friends here," Fiyero said.

"But I don't have my make-up on! And my hair's a mess!" Glinda protested.

"Honey, you look beautiful without all that stuff on," Boq said lovingly.

Glinda poked out of the covers. "Really?"

Boq smiled. "Of course. Stop being so shy."

Glinda blushed a little, then slipped out of bed. She was wearing a pink nightgown, and looked rather modest in it. She sat on the edge of the bed, and Boq sat down next to her.

"So what did you want to tell us?" Boq asked.

"Elphie's been thinking . . ." Fiyero said.

"Uh-oh," Glinda teased.

"And she thinks we should take Dorothy back to her old home so she can retrieve all of her valuables and personal items she left behind. I think it would be a great idea. I'm sure she has a lot of stuff that means a good deal to her," Fiyero finished.

"Oh, that does sound like a good idea!" Glinda said.

Boq thought for a moment. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go find her and bring her home."

* * *

I stared at them, shocked. "Are you guys serious?"

Elphaba nodded. "Don't you want to?"

"Well, of course I do! It would be great!" I paused, thinking for a bit. "But I've been gone for God knows how long. The landlord probably already threw out all my stuff."

"Then we can probably create a wormhole to go back to the day after you left," Elphaba said simply.

"You can do that?"

"It is simple enough," she said with a shrug.

I couldn't find anything to say. I was so touched that they would do this for me. "I can't possibly thank you guys enough for this."

"It's the least we can do," Glinda said.

"Alright, so are we gonna go or what?" Fiyero said.

Elphaba and Glinda took each other's hand, and in turn they each took Fiyero and Boq's hand. Fiyero and Boq each extended their free hand, and I took theirs in my own.

"Do you still remember that spell?" Glinda asked.

I smiled. "I don't think I could ever forget it."

Elphaba smiled. "Ok. It's all on you. You need to take us all to your home, and that's going to take a lot of energy. Glinda and I can help, but you're the only one who knows our destination."

"I'm ready," I said. I inhaled deeply, but then opened my eyes.

"Uh, Elphie, no offense, but people back home don't have green skin," I said uneasily. "Do you happen to know a spell that could change your appearance, at least for a moment?"

She nodded. "Yes, but it's very difficult. I can only sustain it for fifteen minutes at one time," she said worriedly.

"It'll be more than enough time for us to get inside," I said. Elphaba nodded, and she closed her eyes. In a flurry of words, her skin began to fade and change, and soon her emerald green skin was fair and pale, like porcelain. I gasped.

"Oh wow, Elphie, you look so pretty," Glinda said in a quiet voice. Fiyero gave her a harsh stare. "I mean-not that you're not pretty now-"

"It's ok, Glin, I know," Elphaba said distantly.

There was an awkward silence, then I cleared my throat. "Ok, is everyone ready? Hold on tight." I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, focusing all my energy into teleporting to my apartment. "Askamen tuma lame tante kutanta luria!"

Then, I felt the same thing I felt when I came to Oz; the ground beneath our feet crumbled away and we plummeted down and down. The world went black, and after a few dizzying seconds, we hit solid ground. I opened my eyes.

We were in a dark alley, right between two tall shabby apartments. I could hear the blaring car horns and screeching ambulance sirens, and the unmistakeable musty smell of the city.

I was home.

* * *

I walked around in a daze, my hand pressed against the brick walls, staring across the street at the little Chinese Mom and Pop shop, and the numerous people buzzing about. I turned back to my friends.

"We're here," I said excitedly. "My apartment is only a few blocks away."

Elphaba was looking a little green already. "Can we hurry? I don't think I can keep up this spell for much longer."

I nodded, and led them down the sidewalk. I had to keep jabbing them to remind them not to gawk at everything they saw. But they were absolutely fascinated wth everything, especially cars and "those strange talk-box on people's ears."

"Those are cellphones," I explained for the hundredth time. "They allow you to communicate with someone miles away."

"Fascinating," Elphaba said. "How do these cellphones work?"

"I have no idea," I said patiently.

"And look at those dresses! Too cute!" Glinda squealed, pointing to the store across the street. "This is incredible! I should have brought some money!"

"I don't think they'll accept Ozian money here," Boq said.

Fiyero was silent the whole way, looking at everything with no reaction. "This is . . . interesting."

"Ah! We're here!" I said excitedly, running up the steps and banging loudly on the door. In a moment, the landlord opened the door, and was surprised to see me.

"Dorothy," he said. "I didn't know you went out."

"I left just last night," I lied. "I contacted some of my friends, and well, I'm going to be moving."

The landlord seemed surprised. "That's a shame. You were such good company. Make some mean pies. Remenants of the old west, eh?" he joked.

I laughed. "Yeah, I'm sorry, but I found some place better to live."

"Ah, moving up and out, that's always a good thing," the land lord said. "Well, introduce me to your new friends!"

"Oh, this is Elphaba, Fiyero, Boq, and Glinda," I said, gesturing to each of them in turn. He shook each of their hands and gave them a kind smile. "Those are interesting names," he commented. "So . . . where are you moving to?"

"Canada," I said quickly.

"Really?" the landlord said. Elphaba and Fiyero exchanged looks. "Well, do you need any help?"

"No, we got it," I said. "But, actually, I forgot my key. Could you, uh, unlock my door for me?" I asked shyly.

"Of course." We walked up five flights of stairs and down the hall to my room. The landlord unlocked the room with his master key, and showed us inside. Everything was exactly as it was before I left. A overwhelming feeling of nostalgia filled me.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Where's your friend Hunk?" the landlord asked politely.

I inhaled sharply. "He's . . . he's in my new home. He couldn't come," I said shakily.

"Alright then. I'll leave you guys alone. If you need anything, just holler," he said before shutting the door behind us. As soon as the door was shut, Elphaba relaxed, and her skin turned back into her original emerald color.

"Hey," she said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Are you-"

"I'm fine," I said sharply. "Come on, we have a lot of work to do."

I pulled out some large cardboard boxes I kept when Hunk and I first moved in. I-we-didn't have much to take with us to begin with, so packing everything up wouldn't take much time. I went into my tiny bedroom and started to pack away all of my pictures and personal items while Elphaba helped Glinda pack some of my silverware and dishes away. Fiyero and Boq were-I don't know, doing something. God, I didn't care.

I never felt so lonely in my life. All this time, living here, I have had some wonderful times with Hunk, and I thought we would be together, always. But now. . . he's gone.

I brushed away some moisture from my eye. _Ok, Dorothy, just shut up and get to work._ I told myself. I took down all my posters and pictures, and stuffed them into a box, not really caring which order they were in or even if they were bent. I only then began to realize that this was a bad idea. Too many memories. Too many _good_ memories. And it hurt.

I should just burn everything. It hurt to think about what I had lost. San of a bitch. Why did I agree to this? Remembering all of this . . . it was just so painful. I just wanted to forget about it.

My eye caught something sticking out of the garbage. And there it was, the little picture I had drawn of Fiyero, Boq, and Osio, five years ago, when I had returned from my first visit to Oz.

_You said you want to forget them?_

Those words, so familar, from a memory, of what seemed like ages ago. Then, I remembered. Hunk. We were sitting at a table, right before we ate dinner, just talking.

_You want to stop causing harm to yourself-fair enough, seems logical and obvious, but it can't be all bad if you can still remember them after all this time. There must have been some good times in there, as well. Now, why do you want to throw all that away because of a few bad memories? I don't think it's worth it to forget such great friends._

What Hunk had said to me the night we were dragged to Oz. Don't forget. That's what he was trying to say. Don't forget, don't let go. Better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all.

I packed the rest of the stuff away, almost lost in a trance. Silent tears fell down my cheeks. Don't forget. Don't throw away your memories because it hurts.

Keep holding on.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. I snapped out of my trance and bolted out of my room into the main living area. Everyone else was staring at the door, and Elphaba already performed the disguising spell.

"Who could that be?" Glinda wondered.

I went up yo the door and looked through the peephole, but I couldn't see anything. Hesitantly, I opened the door.

"SURPRISE!" two voices said at once, bursting inside and wrapping me in bone-crushing hugs.

I couldn't believe it. "Hickory! Zeke! What are you guys doing here?!"

Zeke and Hickory let me go, and beamed at me with wide smiles.

"Ah, we just wanted to drop in for a little visit!" Zeke said, holding my hands. He looked down, and saw the wedding ring, and smiled.

_Oh no . . ._

"So he finally popped you the question!" Zeke said happily. "So, where's the lucky man!"

"Um, excuse me, but-" Fiyero began, but before he could finish, Zeke had him in a headlock and was giving him a vicious noogie.

"HUNK!" Zeke exclaimed loudly. "You grew your hair out and got some tats, you sly bastard! You're just full of surprises, aren't you!"

"Let him go!!" Elphaba said, pushing Fiyero out of Zeke's grasp. "He's not Hunk!"

Zeke's jaw dropped. "Oh, shit, I am so sorry. But damn, you look a lot like him! Are you sure you're not his twin brother or something?"

"Nope," Fiyero said, rubbing his neck. "And it's ok. Happens all the time." Elphaba rolled her eyes, looking extremely annoyed. Fiyero motioned her to just let it go.

"So where is he?!" Zeke asked again, still grinning like an idiot.

My heart was on the verge of shattering, and it took all my self control not to just completely lose it right then. Hickory saw my distraught expression and elbowed Zeke -hard- in the stomach.

There was dead silence for almost a complete minute. Everyone was looking at me, but I avoided their stares and just gazed blankly off into space.

"Dorothy?" Zeke asked gently.

I turned and looked at him. "Hunk's dead," I whispered.

Zeke and Hickory gaped at me. Hickory ran his hands through his hair and paced around in circles, and Zeke slowly at down into a nearby chair.

"He's-he's _dead_?!" Zeke said hoarsely. "But that's impossible!! We just talked to him the other day! He told us to come down here! How could he have died in less than twenty-four hours?!"

"You guys better sit down," I said, my voice cracking. "I have a very long story to tell you guys."

And they sat at the table, and I told them everything, starting from my first adventure. They of course had a lot of questions, and at first thought I was absolutely crazy. Their expressions told me they at first couldn't believe a word of it, but Elphaba undid the disguising spell to reveal her emeraald skin as proof that my story was true. After that, and after getting over the initial shock that Elphaba really does have green skin, they didn't interrupt. When I reached the part in the story when Hunk was murdered, I couldn't take it anymore and broke out into gasping sobs. It took me quite a bit to calm myself down. And Hickory and Zeke were equally distraught to find out one of their best and oldest friends was horribly murdered. Zeke took a napkin and blew his nose loudly.

"Oh, that poor guy," he said. "He always said he wanted to go down with a bang. Stupid sonovabitch got his wish."

Hickory had his hands clasped on the table and was resting his forehead on his hands. "I can't believe anyone woul do something like that," Hickory said brokenly.

Fiyero fnished the rest of the story for me. During that time, Glinda made us some tea and I gratefully took it. I took a small sip, and felt a warm blanket envelope me.

"But now, I have to go back to Oz," I said after Fiyero finished the story.

"But why?" Hickory asked. "You can live with one of us."

"No. I, believe it or not, am now the ruler of the west," I said with a small laugh. "The Good Witch of the West. And, I realizd Oz is my home. I have great friends, and I'm happy there." Boq took my hand and held it reassuringly. "Now all there's left is to go home."

"Do you need anything? Any more help packing?" Zeke asked. I shook my head.

"No. We've got everything we need," I said.

Zeke stood up and gave me a hug. I hugged him back.

"I'll miss you guys. I'll still keep in touch with you, I promise," I said.

"Oh yeah? How ya gonna do that?" Zeke asked.

"Hey, I'm a powerful witch, remember?" I said with a smile. "I'll figure something out."

"Hickory placed his hand on my shoulder, and we also hugged. "Now you take care of yourself. Promise me you won't do anything dangerous or stupid."

I laughed. "I promise, Hick." I grabbed hold of the precious few boxes I had packed up, and I grabbed Fiyero's hand tightly, who in turn held everyone else's hand so we were once again in a circle, with Zeke and hickory standing off to the side and watching us.

"Good-bye," I said. And with a few magic words and a blinding flash of light, we returned, once more to Oz.

We were finally and truly home.


	29. Your Guardian Angel

**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! *SQUEALS LIKE THE PSYCHOTIC FANGIRL I AM* I AM SO HAPPY!! I got a part in our school's spring musical, "Crazy For You" and I am on Cloud 9 right now! Finally! I finally get to act on stage!!! WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!**

**I'm Ms. Perkins!!!! It's only a minor roll, but who fucking cares!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAY!**

**Ahem. Now on with the next chapter! (I has not stolenz the ideas from Death Note and Harry Potter! They stolenz them from me! XP)**

The next few days passed by in a blur. There was so much work to be done, so much needed to be fixed. Fiyero admently took charge and with a great morale boost he urged the citizens on to reformation. He promised he would end the depression and restore the destroyed towns. It was a start, but I even didn't know where to begin with my own problems.

As soon as I settled in Kiamo Ko, completely refirbished and rebuilt to look good as new, the papers seemed to pour in out of nowhere and flood me with . . . everything, it seems. From the insignificant debates about property lines to new laws that needed to be verified, I was swamped with everything. Thank God Ferior agreed to be my advisor. I knew nothing about Oz's culture, or really anything at all about ruling a nation. And it was frustrating.

One day, I slammed my quill down on the oak desk and threw up my hands exasperately. "Jesus! There's so much crap to do an I don't have the faintest idea how to do any of it! What was Fiyero thinking when he assigned me to rule the west?!"

"He was thinking for the best of Oz," Ferior said calmly. "You're going to do just fine. You'll be great, I know it."

Ferior's little words of comfort were refreshing, to say the least, and I really needed it. He helped me with the bulk of the work, and slowly as the weeks ticked by, I was beginning how to govern and rule.

But still, lots needed to be done. I was called to council once a week, and me, Elphaba, Fiyero, Glinda, Boq, Lance and Osio would sit at a huge table with twelve other Advisors, and we would discuss the next course of action to take. Fiyero always had the final word, since he was king, but he always listened to whatever anyone else had to say. The twelve Advisors came from all across the country and acted as "scouts," so to speak. Four of them were Animals, and Hurontu was one of them. Their job was to travel in their designated district and record any and all potential problems. And there was a bunch of them.

"Our absolute first course of action," Fiyero said at our first council meeting. "is to reestablish Animals as official citizens and to give them equal rights and benefits. Gryphons, too. Any segregation or disrespect towards them is against the law. They have a right to public education, welfare, public property, the works. Animals must be treated with as much dignity as any human."

No one challenged him.

And so the first thing I was assigned to work on was writing new laws to guarantee Animals equal rights. Easier said than done. Apparently, you have to be incredibly thorough. Lucky for me, Ferior was there, as always, to help.

"Ok, how about 'All Animals are to be given the same and equal rights as humans?' Is that good?" I said, glancing up at Ferior.

"You have to be more specific. Like 'All Animals, including Gryphons and Animals living outside of society'-remember, some Animals still live in the wild-'are to be given equal rights and benefits by law. Any segregation or discrimination of any kind is illegal, and violators of this law will be persecuted to the full extent of the law.'"

"Sounds harsh."

"That's the world for you, Dory."

"Please don't call me that," I snapped.

Everyone else was just as swamped as I was. One day when I visited Fiyero, he greeted me with a large smile, but he had huge bags under his eyes. A clear indication he had gotten very little sleep in the past few days.

"Jeeze, Fiyero, you look like crap," I said.

"I feel like crap," he admitted. "But . . . lots to do, and not really all that much time to do it in."

"What do you mean?"

"It's really comlicated," he said, rubbing the back of his head. "Even I don't understand all of what's going on. I was never very good at government back at college," he added with a laugh. "But, I'm grateful I have my father and Elphaba to help me out."

"Hey, you're doing great so far," I said reassuringly. "We've already gotten Animal rights down."

"That's only the tip of the dredded iceberg," Fiyero mumbled. "We're in a serious depression, the worst in history. I'm trying to get this country back on its feet, but it'll take years to get everything sorted out again. I don't know how to fix this." He sighed, and I noticed how distressed he was.

"You know, back where I came from, we had the Great Depression, almost seventy years ago. And we managed to fix it."

Fiyero raised an eyebrow. "Oh? How'd you do it?"

"The leader started government projects and basically poured money back into the economy. Just keep doing your thing. We'll get out of this soon enough."

Fiyero gave me a hug. "Thank you so much for that. I knew I made the right decision when I appointed you!"

"Anytime."

We parted, but not before I saw him rubbing his wrists, and I saw the painful red burns around his wrists. Burns, serving as painful, and permanent, remnants of his past scarecrow life.

One day, as I filed away another paper for a local project to rebuild a local elementary school, my gaze shifted to the far wall, which housed a large bookshelf with spell books. My mind began to wander, and I was reminded of my promise that I made to Zeke and Hickory before I left. The promise that I would always keep in touch. I pulled down a large dusty book, flipped it open, and glazed through the pages, when suddenly I had an idea. I walked back across the room and grabbed a crystal ball (a gift from Elphaba) and I performed the location spell. The orb glowed, and showed me a clear picture of Zeke, sitting at a desk, busily writing a report on a laptop. By his side was a notepad and a pen, and occasionally he picked it up and jotted something down on the notepad.

"Zeke! Can you hear me?!" I shouted. No reaction. I frowned. I looked back down at the notepad, then glanced over at my own desk covered in blank parchment sheets, and my quill pen patiently waiting in the ink bottle. A light bulb went off in my head.

Carrying over the crystal ball to my desk, I pulled out a sheet of paper, picked up my quill, and chanted a quick spell. Then, I wrote down on the parchment.

_Zeke, this is Dorothy. Do you read?_ I wrote, quietly chuckling to myself.

In the orb, I saw Zeke typing away on the computer. He then turned to the notepad, glanced down at it, and froze. He stared at the notepad for several long moments. He then looked around, confused, before staring back down at the notepad. I laughed with happiness. On his notepad, in my handwriting, read _Zeke, this is Dorothy. Do you read?_

The spell worked!

He hesitantly picked up his pen, and on the notepad, wrote _Dorothy, is it really you, or am I going crazy?_

I looked back at the parchment on my own desk, and right underneath where I had written was _Dorothy, is it really you, or am I going crazy?_ I giggled with excitement.

_Nope, it's me!_ I wrote happily._ I did it! I found a way for us to keep in touch!_

_Holy crap . . ._ he wrote.

I jotted down a little smiley face :)

In the orb, I could see him staring at the notepad, then he looked around his room again.

_Are you watching me?_ he asked.

_Yes, actually. I thought I could contact you through my crystal ball._

_You have a crystal ball?!_

_Yep._

_You better not be stalking me._

I laughed loudly, and jotted down_lol._

_Girl, I'm serious. Or I'll take the next twister to Oz and smash your little glass ball._

_:(_ I wrote.

_But hey, it's great to hear back from you. How's everything goin'?_

I paused for a long time, thinking about what to write. _Things could be worse. First few days were rough. But I think I'm getting into the swing of things. We already gave Animals their rights back._

_Good for you kiddo. I'm proud of you, really. _He paused, then slowly wrote _Are you alright?_

_What do you mean?_ I scribbled back.

_i think you know. _he said.

I sighed. Of course I knew what he meant. _I . . . I don't want to talk about it. If I think about it too much . . . I'll just get distracted. I can't afford another emotional breakdown. Not when I have so much pressure on me. Maybe later, when I'm ready. But not now._

_Ok. I understand._

_What are you up to?_

_Oh, just busy work. I'm designing another house to build._

_Good for you! Who's house?_

_Mine._

_SWEET!_

_Yep._

_So finally moving out of that crappy apartment?_

_Oh, yes. It won't be that big. Something small and cozy. Like our house back in Kansas._

_Ah, I see. Got yourself a girlfriend?_

_Well, that was a little random, don't you think, Miss Gale?_

_Well, why else would you move out?_

In the crystal orb, I could see Zeke's ears turn red with embarassment. Yep. He had a girlfriend. I smiled.

_Your ears cannot lie!!_I wrote menancingly.

He dropped his pen and slapped his hands over his ears, looking around crazily again. I almost burst out laughing. He picked up his pen and wrote while hunched over the notepad.

_I told you not to go stalking me. Now I'm gunna have to come over there and break your stupid crystal ball._

I laughed again. _Oh, come on, you know that stalking is the best sign of friendship._

I could see Zeke chuckling, and he hastily scribbled something down.

_Got me there. Ok, her name is Halle, and we're going steady._

_Ooooooooh,_ I wrote. _How long have you been dating?_

_About a year now. But we've known each other ever since I-we-moved to the city. We're getting married once the house is done, so not for another year. _

_Oh! How exciting!_

_Yeah._

Another long pause between us writing. I just looked at him through the glowing orb, and he stared down at the pad of paper, probably hoping my face would leap off the page at him. Suddenly, something popped up on his computer, and he started hammering away like crazy on the laptop. He was, however able to pick up his pen one last time and write one more thing.

_I'm sorry, I gotta go. Urgent. It was great to talk to you again. I'll see you around, kiddo. Take care of yourself._ And at that instant, the spell on the orb faded, and the image of Zeke disappeared, leaving nothing left but the transparent glassy orb.

My heart sunk a bit. I picked up my quill one last time, and wrote some final words.

_It was great to see you again. I'll talk to you soon. A few more words about how this spell works. This notepad is now enchanted, and the enchantment will not wear away. The notepad will never run out of paper, no matter how many sheets of paper you rip out. Also, you can write on this anytime, anywhere, and I will be able to read it. Keep a piece of this paper with you, just in case. And tell Hickory I said hi, and I miss him. I miss you, too. Take care._

And with that, I carefully folded up the piece of paper and opened one of the many drawers in my desk and slipped it inside. Shutting the drawer, I turned my attention back to my desk and the seemingly infinite papers waiting for me. With a heavy sigh, I picked one up.

A proposition for cutting down a nearby forest to extract valuable fossil fuels.

Oh, joy and rapture.

* * *

". . . and that will conclude our meeting," Elphaba said confidently, shuffling the papers in front of her together. "We will start a project of building a canal from the south to the east in order to provide water to the thousands of acres of cropland in Munchkinland. It will also provide hundreds of jobs to people who desperately need them." The Board nodded in agreement, and mumbled words of approval. Boq and Lance had huge smiles on their faces. This was something they had been really pushing for. For the last few years, since they were in college, actually, droughts had been plaguing Munchkinland. They knew this canal was vital if the people were to have fresh crops and bread. Most of the produce was grown there.

I was just about ready to pass out. I was up all night trying to settle a dispute between a couple of miners up in the mountains. One guy claimed he found a gold vine, but the other guy claimed he owned the property the gold was discovered and . . . ugh. Not fun.

Fiyero had his hands clasped in front of his face and was staring thoughtfully off into spce, not really listening all that much. One of the Advisors turned to him.

"Is there anything else you'd like to add, Your Highness?" he asked politely.

"No," Fiyero said. "That will be all. We're making some good progress. Things are looking up."

"Ah, you're quite mistaken there," another Advisor said grimly. "The conditions are not improving. Not to say you're not doing an excellent job, being new and everything, but it will be quite some time before we can say we did make any progress."

I was ready to blow it. "Hey, why don't you shut it, you idiot!" I yelled, jumping to my feet. "He's doing everything he bloody can, so why don't you just shut the hell up and be glad he's working himself to the bone every damn day to fix this fucked up country!"

All eyes were on me, everyone was staring at me. I was still angry, but I was, I admit, somewhat ashamed that I couldn't control myself better. I excused myself from the room and ran out of there. I went to the only place I found any comfort at all, the Hero Cemetery. I ran up to Hunk's grave and threw my arms around the cold black onyx stone.

"Oh, God, Hunk . . ." I sobbed. "I'm so sorry. I'm just so angry. I'm trying to be strong and brave, but I miss you. It hurts to wake up every morning, and know you're not there."

I sat by his grave for a very long time, until the daylight faded and the night stretched its inky black hand across the heavens. I stared up at the numerous stars, remembering all those days so long ago, back in Kansas, when Hunk and I would just lay at each other's side and try to pick out the constellations. I pointed up to the sky and traced my finger through the air.

"Look," I said. "There's Draco. Your favorite. Remember when we watched _Dragon Heart_ together? You loved that movie. And over there is the Big and Little Dipper. And remember how you used to sing _Follow the Drinking Gourd_ to me every time we saw that? And Orion. . ." I trailed off, naming all the constellations I could think of. And it was almost like Hunk was by my side, guiding my hand, helping me name the stars. And then, I saw a shooting star streak across the sky. I smiled a bit.

"I wish I could see you, just one last time," I said. I curled my legs up to my chest, and I sighed.

Then something hit me, as hard as a brick.

I _could_ see him one last time.

With new determination in my heart, I returned home to Kiamo Ko. That night, I didn't sleep. I spent the entire night scouring the spell books for hours and hours on end, until finally, as the sun was beginning to rise, I found the spell I was looking for.

* * *

"I can see him again!" I said exasperately to Elphaba. "This spell will let me speak to his spirit! I just need your help!"

Elphaba looked back and forth between me and the spell book which I held in front of her. Her eyes glazed over the words for the spell, and she shook her head.

"I don't know. It looks very faulty and risky. And even if it does work, what will you say to him?"

"That I love him," I said earnestly. "I never got the chance to say that. He might have told me how he felt for me, but I never did."

"Oh, come on Ephie!" Glinda said. "I think it's a wonderful idea!"

Fiyero and Boq were also there, and they were mumbling to each other. Finally they nodded their heads and looked up at me.

"She should do it. If that's what she wants, let us help her," Boq said confidently. Fiyero nodded.

So we all made a trip out to the Hero Cemetery once more. I clutched the spell book tightly, and I shook with anxiety. My legs grew weak as I approached his gravestone once again. I fumbled through the pages until I found the page the spell was on. I had read it over very carefully numerous times before, and I scanned the words once more to be sure. The spell would only last a few precious minutes, so I had to make every second count. Inhaling deeply, I started to chant.

The words flowed smoothly off my tongue, and my voice rose, growing stronger and stronger, and I said the words faster and faster, slowly gaining more momentum as I felt my energy pour out of me. A light began to form in front of me, and although I faltered for only a bit, I continued until I finished the spell.

The light began to grow. It shone intensely with a pure white light, and slowly it began to take shape, like a shifting cloud. And finally, it took the form of a human figure, and in a matter of moments, Hunk was standing in front of me once more.

He was semi-transparent and engulfed in a pure white aurora, and his eyes shone like gems beneath the water's surface. He smiled, and spoke in a clear, echoy voice.

"Hello, Dorothy," he said kindly. "I knew we'd see each other again. But I didn't think it would be this soon."

I laughed, and I tried to say something, anything at all. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him, how much I missed hm, how much I cared for him. But all that clouded my thoughts were angry words, accusing him, yelling at him for leaving me. I tried to tell myself it was wrong to think of that, especially now, when I only had a few last moments to speak with him. But I couldn't restrain my grief any longer.

"Why?!" I choked. "Why did you have to die? Why did you have to leave me?" I reached out my hand to touch him, but I knew he didn't have a physical presence. He was just an illusion in the air, a trick of light, a whift of smoke. I pulled back my hand, and I felt tears leak from my eyes. "Hunk, I loved you so much! How could you leave me here all alone?! I care about you more than anything in the world! I wanted to be together forever and you ruined it!"

Hunk looked hurt, and I hated myself so much for saying it, but I couldn't help myself any longer. I wanted to hold him, be with him. I crashed to my knees and buried my head in my hands. "But you're dead, and we'll never be together. Hunk, I love you, I love you, I love you just so much. You are everything to me. Nothing else matters but you."

I was enveloped in warmth. I looked up, and saw that Hunk had his arms around me. I lifted my own and hesitantly hugged him back, and almost cried out with surprise. I could feel him! He had a physical presence! I held him tighter. He was so warm and just like how I remembered him, as if he was actually alive. I laid my head on his shoulder, and savored the embrace. For a while my tears stopped, and we just held each other. Finally, he pulled away, and cupped my chin in his hand. I took his hand in my own. His eyes were kind and gentle, and so full of that lively fire I knew so well.

"Dorothy, I love you more than life itself, which is why I had no choice, but to give up my own life for you," he said passionately. "I couldn't ask anyone else to do it, but me. I couldn't let anyone hurt you or threaten you. And I want you to understand something, my beloved. I am _always_ with you. Always and forever. I would never leave you for an instant. If you ever feel lonely or sad, know that I am there, by your side, to love and comfort you, no matter what. If you ever want to talk to someone, have comfort in knowing I am there to listen to you. I will be your guardian angel. I will always love and protect you for the rest of your life. And I will be waiting for you in heaven."

I was so touched, so moved, that I couldn't speak. I only held him once again, and he gently lifted me to my feet. He turned to everyone else.

"You all have great futures waiting for you. You will all prosper, and rule this country on to glory it was meant for. Fiyero, Dorothy, Boq, you will all do an excellent job of leading Oz in the rightful direction," he said. He went up to Boq, who was gaping at him like a fish, and Hunk smiled. "You will be great as the ruler of the north. You and your brother will make the right decisions for the people." He turned to Glinda. "You did the right thing making him your husband. He will always be there for you. He's your knight in shining armor."

Glinda bowed her head and smiled as she clutched Boq's arm. Boq gave her a one-armed hug and kissed the top of her head.

He walked up to Fiyero and put a hand on his shoulder. "You have been a great friend in the little time that I've known you. You will be an excellent king. Have faith. You've done so much already. Your father made an excellent decision in appointing you as king."

Fiyero smiled. "Thank you."

Hunk then walked up to Elphaba, and gave her one of the biggest smiles I had seen. He placed a hand on her stomach. "Don't worry. You'll do great," he said simply.

She blushed, and put an emerald hand over his opaque one. He let go, and turned around once more to me. "Dorothy, I love you so much. And I will always be with you. Never forget that." He then began to fade, and he slowly materialised away, likee smoke disapparating in a gentle breeze. "I am your guardian angel, and I will forever be with you."

I smiled, looking up at the sky where Hunk's spirit had drifted away to. Glinda came up to me and gave me a comforting hug, and I squeezed her back.

I was so happy to have finally spoken with him, and to say all the things I had been holding back. Finally, I was at peace with the world.

I turned around, and gave Elphaba a smile. "I only have one question," I said. "What did he mean by 'you'll do great?'"

She didn't say anything. She only smiled and looked down at her stomach, and gently placed her hands on top of it. And her cheeks turned a slightly darker shade of green. She was blushing.

At the same instant, Glinda and I understood, and we squealed like little two year olds and tackled her-well, not really tackled, but smothered her with hugs, kisses and more childish squeals.

And Fiyero understood, too. He ran up to her, and gripped her with a bone crushing hug. He was grinning from ear to ear, and looked down at her with joyous eyes.

"Are yo really-?!" he said.

She nodded. Glinda and I squealed again.

"What?! What?!" Boq cried out. "What's going on?!"

"I'm going to be a father!" Fiyero shouted, kissing Elphaba.

Boq's jaw dropped. "You're _pregnant_?!?!"

Elphaba nodded, too shy and excited to say much of anything.

"How long have you known?!" Fiyero said.

"Just the other day, actully. I'm about a week and a half along," she said, hardly containing her happiness.

"Then I have a serious proposition to make," Fiyero said in a very deathly tone. We all fell silent, and I was startled at his sudden change in tone. "I will have to make a new law; whomever serves my wife alcohol will be thrown in prison!!"

There was silence, until Fiyero broke out in a huge grin again and started laughing, and kissed Elphaba again. "But in all seriousness . . ."

"Don't worry, I'll be very careful," Elphaba promised. "Although, I have to admit, it is a little frightening. I've never had a mother to talk about these things with."

"Well, don't worry for one second, Elphie!" Glinda said, running up to her and hugging her around the shoulders. "I'll give you every bit of motherly advise my own momsie gave me!"

"And I guess I have to help you along too!" I said, beaming with happiness. "My Aunt Em told me everything I've ever cared to hear about pregnancy and childbirth, and a whole lot more on stuff I really did not want to know!"

"Oh, I don't think I want to hear any of that stuff," she said with a smile.

"Too bad, woman! We're going to teach you _everything_, whether you like it or not!"

Elphaba laughed, and we all gathered for a group hug. We walked out of the cemetery together, hand in hand, hugging, laughing, Fiyero already making plans to announce Elphaba's pregnancy to the rest of Oz. And I have never felt so happy, and so at home before.

It may not have been a happily-ever-after ending like in all those corny fairy tales, but hell, this was close enough.

* * *

**Stay tuned for the Epilogue!! **

**P.S. If you don't feel like reading it, that's ok! This is as good as an ending as any!**


	30. Epilogue: Always With You

**I want to tell all of you, my dear readers, what a wonderful journey this has been. It has been a great joy to write this story, but like all things, it must come to an end. I want to thank all of you who have taken the time to read my story, and a special thanks to all of those who have been loyal reviewers. Julez Rox, Laurenne Tiggular, crazyGATOR57, Riti the Wicked Troll, I cannot thank you guys enough. If it weren't for your reviews, I would have probably given up on this story a long time ago.**

**And now may I present the final chapter.**

Elphaba took deep, gulping breaths as she rubbed her massively swollen stomach. It had been nearly nine months since they had seen Hunk's spirit, and she was due in a matter of days. Inside, she could feel her child relentlessly kicking her. She groaned loudly, letting her head fall back against the numerous overly-stuffed pillows. Her eyes drifted over to the side of the room, which was filled with hundreds of gifts and flower bouquets from Glinda, Dorothy, and hundreds of Ozian women wishing her the best of luck for her unborn child. Said child then abruptly kicked Elphaba--hard.

"Fiyero, make it stop. Tell it to stop kicking, it's getting aggravating," she whined.

Fiyero sat on the edge of the bed, and took her hand, smiling ear to ear. "It's just telling you how much it loves you!" he said comfortingly.

"Well it can tell me how much it loves me by not kicking me so much," Elphaba groaned.

Fiyero placed his hand on her stomach, and felt the baby kick. His grin widened.

"I can feel it! Isn't this wonderful?" he said.

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one with the stomach the size of a small planet," Elphaba growled.

"Oh, cheer up, Elphie! Everything's going to be just fne!" Glinda said perkily, also in the bedroom with her. "Only a few more days and it will be out of your stomach and into your arms!"

And Gllinda herself was also pregnant, although she was only in her first trimester. She had only a tiny bulge in her stomach, the real first physical sign of her pregnancy, and she too was gently rubbing it. Boq was standing behind her and had his hands on top of her, and smiling down at both of them. Elphaba chuckled, remembering the day she and Fiyero had first announced that she was pregnant. The crowds went absolutely hysterical, and to top it off, Glinda came prancing up the stage, dragging Boq behind her, and announced that the two of them would have sex every night until she too was pregnant. No words could describe the awkwardness and horror on Boq's face. He flushed with embarrassment, and Elphaba could remember him turning around, looking strtaight at Fiyero, and saying "Help me!!"

Fiyero only laughed, saying, "Boq, you have no idea how many men would gladly be in your shoes right now!"

"And I want to have lots of kids!" Glinda squealed. "My life long dream was to be a mommy! So let's go!!" And she literally dragged Boq back into the palace, all the while him pleading for them to save him. They could only watch and laugh. But not in a mean way.

And eventually Glinda did get pregnant, and she dragged Elphab along to go shopping for baby stuff. Glinda wanted to buy pink stuff, because she was sure Elphaba's baby was going to be a girl. Elphaba, always the careful one, politely declined, and instead bought clothes and accessories all in neutral colors.

"But it's going to be a girl!" Glinda whined. "I can feel it! I've never been wrong about these sort of things before!"

Elphaba only laughed. "Lin, with my luck, if we do buy all girl stuff, I'll for sure have a boy, then what?"

Glinda huffed. "But it's not going to be a boy! It's going to be a girl!!"

"What do you want it to be?" Fiyero had asked curiously.

Elphaba grinned mischieviously. "I want a boy. Just to spite Glinda."

Glinda shouted, and slapped Elphaba playfully. "Oh, I know you really want a girl!"

And now, month later, Elphaba was laying in bed with servant tending to her every need, patiently waiting for the day to come. Or, as patiently as she could. And in those nine months, Dorothy and Glinda rattled off about everything Elphaba wanted to know about motherhood--and much she really did not want to know. But Dorothy and Glinda were firm--no skimping out on a single detail. But Elphaba had many concerns herself, none of which she voiced. She was terrified. She could never shake the horrible feeling that something would be wrong with her child. What if it was green, like her? No matter how much Fiyero comforted her, Elphaba could not bear the thought of having a child like her, one that would be cursed like her. She couln't bear it if her own flesh and blood had to suffer the same abuse she enured when she was a child. And she doubted that her status as queen would do anything to lessen the painful blows if the child was green. sometimes she would wake n the middle of the night and cry, begging to some higher power which she did not believe in to spare her child.

Elphaba felt her stomach tighten painfully, another annoying side affect from being pregnant. The pain came again, and she almost cried out. This one hurt much more than normal . . . Her spine shot with pain, and she could feel a more intense pain shoot across her abdomen.

"Fiyero," she gasped. "I think it's here . . ."

And as if to prove that she was telling the truth, she felt her water break, and everything went into absolute chaos.

She was then rushed into another room with much screaming and shouting, where several doctors and nurses were at the ready, all carrying bowls of water and fresh towels, ready for the delivery. Elphaba was completely overwhelmed, but Fiyero wanted to make sure nothing would go wrong in the delivery of the new prince- or princess.

Fiyero, Glinda, and Boq were forced to wait outside the room, but Dorothy stayed to help with the delivery. She gripped her hand tightly and gave her words of encouragement, but Elphaba could barely hear herself think over the incredibly loud noise that everyone around her was making. It was giving her a massive headache and she wanted nothing more than to shout at them to shut up.

Another shock of pain erupted through her body and she screamed in agony, clutching Dorothy's hand like a vice, annd she could see Dorothy wince. But she didn't say anything.

"Come on, Elphaba! You can do it!" she heard her say. Elphaba screamed again in agony.

* * *

Boq and Glinda were each sitting in chairs outside the room, and Fiyero was pacing anxiously around in circles, his hands clasped behind his back and staring down at the floor. Occassionally, they heard Elphaba scream, and he would stop and stare in horror at the door before silence would ensue and he would continue on with his pacing.

"Fiyero, please sit down, you're making me dizzy," Glinda said.

"I can't! My wife's in there, and she's in pain!" Fiyero shouted.

"Calm down, sweetie, these things take time. And of course it's going to hurt. And there's not much we can do about it."

"Can't you do a spell?"

"Oh, goodness no. I wouldn't dare. It's such a delicate situation as it is. I don't want to do anything that could endanger her or the child," Ginda said carefully.

Fiyero groaned, and continued to pace. It went on like this for hours, until finally one of the doctors opened the door. Fiyero froze.

"What is it?" he asked urgently.

"Come on inside, the child's about to be born!" he said excitedly.

Fiyero rushed inside and ran up to Elphaba's side, gripping her thin hand. His eye caught a heap of towels red with blood. A lot of blood. He began to grow sick with worry. Was that normal?

Elphaba was sweating, and she was in great pain, gasping for breath, her eyes red and wet. She screamed, all the while with nurses--and Dorothy--giving her encouragement.

"Come on, push! That's it, that's it! Push! Harder! Come now I know you can do better than that! Push! Oh!"

"What?!" Fiyero demanded.

"I can see it's head!" the head nurse shouted happily. "Come on, one more big push! Come on, PUSH!"

And with a loud painful scream, the baby was delivered, and Elphaba crashed back against the pillows, exhausted. The nurse wrapped the baby up in a new fresh towel and began to wipe away the blood and liquid. Elphaba kept her eyes firmly shut.

Fiyero went up to the nurse, who was beaming with joy. "It's a little baby boy!" the nurse said happily. She wiped away some more blood, and the baby began to cry. Fiyero smiled, his eyes tearing up, and the nurse gave him his newborn son.

"I can't believe it! A son! I have a son!" Fiyero said. He looked down at the precious, perfect little boy. What he saw, he couldn't have asked for anything better.

He turned to Elphaba, but she still had her eyes closed, and tears were running down her cheeks. She was sick with worry. "Is it ok?" she whispered.

Fiyero handed her the baby. "Look for yourself."

Elphaba slowly opened her eyes, and cried out with joy. It was perfect, a completely normal color, with Fiyero's fair skin and already a head full of black hair. The baby cried and thrashed about in his blanket, and his eyes opened, and he looked straight at Elphaba. She was caught breathless. He had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen, like the purest cut emeralds. She held it close to her, and rocked it gently in her arms.

"Oh, thank god, thank god! It's normal!" Elphaba said. Fiyero was about to say something, but restrained himself.

Dorothy looked at the baby with the biggest grin on her face. "What are you going to name him?" she asked.

Elphaba thought for a moment. "Chiron," she suddenly said. "His name will be Chiron."

"That's an excellent name," Fiyero said approvingly. "Chiron Tiggular, the Prince of Oz! I can't wait to announce it!"

"Fiyero! Let her rest!" Dorothy scolded. "That can wait! Let them both regain their strength, and give them some space."

So they left her in peace, she and her newborn son. She continued to rock him, her perternal instincts taking over, and soon he fell asleep, like a precious little angel. Elphaba was so unbelievably happy. Her son, her beautiful son. She gently kissed his forehead before she too drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Later that day, Fiyero announced the birth of Chiron and presented him for all to see. The citizens cheered loudly. Elphaba was happy that her son would live a relatively normal life, and she vowed to always protect him and to be the best mother she could. As was custom of the Vinkus, Larkspur then blessed Chiron by rubbing special oils on his forehead, as a sign of guidance and righteousness. Fiyero then marked Chiron on his chest with another special oil for strength and good health.

"When will he get the blue tattoos?" Elphaba joked.

"He will get his first blue diamond tattoos when he's eighteen, to show his conversion from child to adult!" Fiyero said.

"That sounds exciting!" Dorothy commented.

"Oh, and one more thing," Fiyero said. "Chiron needs a godparent. Dorothy, it would be a great honor if you were to be Chiron's godmother!"

Dorothy was enraptured to hear this, and blushed humbly. "Fiyero, it is a great honor to be Chiron's godmother!" And she too was given a special blessing, so she may always love and cherish the newborn prince. Dorothy had no doubt that she could easily keep that promise.

Soon the day ended after much festivities, and the day was marked as the birthday of a Prince. Chiron was then placed in a crib in Elphaba's and Fiyero's bedroom, and would be moved to his very own bedroom in a few days.

The palace then entered a state of peace as all the lights went out, and all the members of the castle fell asleep.

And then, in the very early hours of the next day, still hours away from sunrise, the moon and stars still bright in the sky, several people came, and visited the palace. One of these first stopped in Boq's and Glinda's room. The figure silently and carefully approached them, looking down at the couple. She smiled.

How could she have not seen it before? The two of them belonged to each other, they deserved each other. How could she have been so blind and foolish? The only reason she did not feel guilty for her actions any longer was because at least they were together again, and the spell she had cast on Boq had been lifted.

Nessarose looked at Glinda, and with great sincerity, she felt happy for her, she truly did. Glinda loved Boq more than she ever did, and her gaze drifted towards her slightly swollen stomach. Glinda's child would surely be another beautiful gift to this world, and she wished them both the best of luck.

She drifted into the next room over, which was Dorothy's room, and three more ghosts were crowded around her peacefully sleeping figure. One, she knew very well, but the two others she had only heard of, and never actually met before.

There was, of course Hunk, and an older man and woman, who looked to be in their sixties and were very kind and gentle looking, the exact picture of a loving grandmotherly figure. The woman took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes.

"Oh, how my precious niece has grown!" the woman sighed. "Who could have dreamed she'd do such great things? She has much in store for her in the future!"

"It's a shame, that you won't be in her future," the man said sadly.

Hunk laughed. "Not true, Henry. I'm always with her, I thought you two knew that!"

Nessarose knew who they were. Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, whom Dorothy had spoken of so highly on her first adventure in Oz. Of course Nessa had watched her, after all, it was her house that caused an end to her pitiful life, but she was no longer angry at her for it. It wasn't her fault and it had all been for the better.

Their eyes met, and they nodded, and continued to watch Dorothy sleep peacefully. Hunk traced his transparent hand down the side of her face, and then they left her, and visited the real reason why they had come.

In the next room was Elphaba and Fiyero, and Chiron, all peacefully sleeping. And there were three other ghosts already there: Fiyero's mother, and Elphaba's parents.

"I am so proud of you, my son," Fiyero's mother said. Nessa was stunned at the woman's beauty, tall, trim, and long beautiful mahogany hair that hung loosely about her heart shaped face. Nessarose lowered her gaze to her sister, and was filled with admiration for all she had done. She was the proudest sister that night. She had done so much, had made so much good, accomplished her dream of peace and equality through the land. Nessarose glided over to her father, who was heartbroken.

"I had been a foolish father," he said mournfully. "I cast her out because of something that wasn't her fault. I had shamed her, not the other way around. If I were still alive, I would tell her how sorry I am." He bowed his head, and Melena placed a hand on his shoulder.

"What's done is done, and now the only thing we can do now is protect our grandchild."

It was only then that Nessarose fully understood who she was now. She was an aunt now. She drifted over to her nephew, Chiron, down at his cute litle figure, so perfect. He et out a soft moan, and opened his beautiful green eyes. He looked up at Nessa and smiled.

"Don't you worry little one," she said. "Aunt Nessie will make sure nothing bad will happen to you."

Hunk came to her side, also looking down at Chiron. "Your godmother is my best and closest friend, and since I am her guardian angel, I will be yours too. Remember this, Chiron, I will always be with you and protect you. I do not know what lies in your future, but I promise I will be with you through the times of trial and peace."

"We will all be with you, little one," Melena said.

And they al stood in silence, watching the young prince, until he drifted off into a peaceful sleep. None spoke as they watched him, for hours until the sun began to peak over the horizon, and with the rising sun, they faded away, back off into the sky where they came from, but they vowed to keep their promises.

"We will always be with you."

**THE END**

**The end for this story, at least.**

**But of course, many challenges and difficulties lie ahead for Prince Chiron. Will he be strong and survive, or will he fall victim to a hidden spell?**

**Stay tuned for "Cursed Bood" to find out!**

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